Lost in Time, Found By War
by lunateix
Summary: Bass and Roll are catapulted two hundred years into the future. How will they deal with Neo Arcadia, X's guardians, and Zero? How will they get home?
1. Chapter 1

Some Author's Notes: This idea came from a daydream I had a while back and then after seeing a pic on DeviantArt, I realized that I HAD to at least write the first chapter. The idea came from Bass going head-to-head with Zero and so I blended him into the MMZ timeline.

I guess a few things should be said ahead of time. One, I don't plan to keep the story canon, it'd be impossible, what with Bass in it and everything. Two, I'm fully aware that it seems ridiculously cruel to put Bass against a reploid, but I keep in mind that Bass and Zero are both technically powered by the same energy source AND unlike Zero…who seemed to forget he could do it, Bass still has the ability to copy enemy data.

Other things of note: Elpizo is already in charge of the Resistance, Phantom will not blow himself up, Roll's design comes from Megaman 8, and my ideas are heavily influenced by MMC, MMX, MMZ, MML, and MMBN.

Other than that, the only other thing I have to say is to enjoy the story, it'll make Bass happy, and you do want him happy, right?

Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own Bass or any character present, those are all Capcom.

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Desolation, that described the desert that stretched into an endless sea. There was nothing here, at least that's what everyone had believed.

It had been recent, a sandstorm. Its fierce winds had uncovered a treasure trove of history that had been thought lost to the ages.

Several Pantheon units, proud to be modeled after their master, X, stood with a few scientists, reploids, but scientists nonetheless. They were excited, proud to be chosen by Master X for such a crucial mission. This was a chance to go down in history, the first beings to step foot in the legendary Wily Castle after more than two hundred years. The chance to find elusive records of lost information alone was savory, but the immortality that comes with being mentioned as the first reploids to step foot in Wily's lab, to perhaps even see some of his creations, their distant ancestors, that was the true source of their elation.

In fact, the only one that wasn't happy about the situation was one Fighting Fefnir. He had been selected to oversee the safety of the scientists and to command the Pantheon unit, which in a place as ancient as this, meant he had to sit around and do absolutely nothing. It was annoying to him. Considering research wasn't his thing, he had absolutely nothing to do except pray that Zero showed up.

"_Now THAT would be fun,"_ he thought to himself as the scientists began running their instruments over the ruined castle. He would have loved to meet Zero in battle again. He was the only true challenge that the ridiculous resistance offered. Just thinking about going against that legendary red reploid sent shivers of excitement of Fefnir's spine. He clenched his fist with a smirk, making a silent pledge to himself that he'd face Zero again, preferably soon.

"Lord Fefnir!" One of the scientists said, breaking his train of thought. Fefnir groaned and turned to the man, saying, "What is it?" "We…we've detected an energy signature! It was brief, but very powerful!" Fefnir's eyes perked at the news and another scientist spoke up. "We have two energy signatures inside! One of them is very strong, it's…it's actually overshadowing the second one!"

Perhaps things wouldn't be quite so boring after all. With a grin on his face, Fefnir gave his orders. "Alright! Pantheon units 2 and 3, you sweep the perimeter. Unit 4, stay with the scientists. Any of them gets hurt, you'll deal with me and my knuckle buster! Unit 1! You're with me!"

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Inside the castle, its main chamber, destruction and decay had been visiting. The spacious, two-story room had once been supported by grandiose columns, supporting an ornate ceiling above a marble floor with a pair of twisted staircases leading the balcony that overlooked the entire room. Now, consoles destroyed, walls crumbling, columns toppled, and ceiling cracked, it was a shell of its former, glorious self.

Suddenly, a flash of light, a burst of purple energy in the shape of an orb jumped into existence, expelling two occupants that fell out of it and slid to the floor. Then as fast as it appeared, it vanished.

"Bass…" said the weak voice of Roll, the girl currently held tight in the arms of a Gospel Boosted Bass. "Ngh…" he grunted as he came to. His mind returning to him, he quickly barked, "Get off me!" and pushed the girl off, hard to the ground. She yelped, falling on her butt and quickly shot, "HEY! Haven't you ever heard of a gentle touch?!" "Haven't you ever heard of personal space," he countered.

She stayed quiet, much to his enjoyment, while he recollected his thoughts. _"What was I doing? Oh right, Megaman…I was fighting Megaman…" _his mind lost itself as he took in his surroundings. This couldn't be the same castle. He'd been down for a moment, but it was only a moment. Destruction and decay like this takes years, no, centuries.

He released his Gospel Boost fusion to produce a worn out Treble. "Search for something interesting, boy." Bass told his companion, who happily obliged, trotting off to inspect various piles of rubble in the room. Bass then turned his attention to Roll, saying, "Hey, Creampuff." Her cheeks puffed in anger, she turned to him and said, "My name is Roll!" "Yeah, whatever," he said with a wave of his hand. "Look, what's the last thing you remember?"

Roll brought a finger up to tap her cheek a few times while she thought about it. "You were fighting my brother," she began. "And I was winning," he added. "I tried to talk you out of it," she included. "Wily tried to get you to shut up by firing that stupid experimental laser cannon of his," Bass replied. "And you stopped fighting with Mega to save me," she finished with a smile on her face. "Yeah well," Bass started, fighting the urge to fall to embarrassment, "don't look too much into it," he added, "I just didn't need Wily wasting my time with crap like attacking Megaman's little sister." "TWIN sister," she corrected, getting an uninterested grunt in reply.

Treble soon returned from inspecting the room and shook its head, failing to find anything interesting in the rubble aside from…well…rubble. "I see," Bass said to himself, trying to lose himself in his thoughts, but the blonde machine next to him seemed intent on keeping him from peace of his own mind.

"What did that cannon do anyways?" she asked. It was a good question, considering Bass had failed in removing her from the path of the weapon and they'd both been hit. They should be dead, or at least severely injured, granted Bass took some damage, but for all Wily had been ranting about his latest creation, it should have done more. Bass silently cursed himself at the fact that he had been too bored to actually listen to Wily's explanation of the weapon, after all, he never paid attention to Wily's explanations.

"How should I know," he finally said. "I only go along with the plans to fight Megaman and wait for Wily's grand master plan to inevitably fail. I don't actually pay attention to what his worthless inventions actually do." "You don't have a lot of respect for him, do you?" She asked. "Why would I? I mean, considering, would you have respect for the man?" "Well…no…" she admitted before continuing, "But still, I'd think you would, I mean, he made you and everything." "That's about the only thing he's ever done right," Bass said, "and considering I can't beat that dweeb of a brother you have, apparently Wily fucked ME up too."

Bass turned his back to Roll, now angering himself over repeated failures at the hands of the Blue Bomber, the one person that his very existence was based upon. He was made for the sole purpose of destroying Megaman, yet time and time again, he lost, one way or another. It was frustrating to be inferior to anyone in his opinion. He was built to be the strongest Robot Master, built to surpass Megaman and any other challenger.

"Bass…I…" Roll began to say, reaching her hand out to console him. She hadn't meant to wound him, emotionally or otherwise, but apparently she struck a chord in him somewhere. She gingerly planted her hand on his shoulder, only to have him swat it away. "I don't need your pity," he said, whirling around to the girl and eyeing something. He held up his right arm, the hand transforming into his buster, and ordered, "Don't move."

Panic rushed through Roll's mind as she heard the faint charge of the buster and she shut her eyes in anticipation of Bass's attack. The buster fired, and she felt the shot whiz by her. She opened her eyes and saw a mechanical snake, writhing on the ground before it deactivated. She looked at it, it definitely didn't look like anything Wily had designed, then she looked back to Bass, a bit sheepishly. "You saved me again," she uttered.

"Like I said before," Bass said, "Don't look too much into it." After his comment, he winced in pain, electricity crackling off his buster. He grasped it with his left hand and winced a second time, positive that the damage required immediate attention. "Bass!" Roll said quickly, "You're injured," pointing out the obvious. "It's nothing," he lied, but she didn't buy it. She grabbed his right arm and inspected the buster. "What do you think you're doing," he asked, snatching his arm away, but to his surprise, she grabbed it again and replied, "Stop moving so I can see what's wrong."

Bass blinked and made a noise of discontent, but didn't resist as the girl looked over the damage to his buster. "I'm going to need some tools," she said, "I don't think I can fix it completely without a bit of help, but I can probably get a few shots out of it." "Alright, fine," he replied, "I guess I can take us to a repair bay. That and we can figure out what's going on here."

They nodded to each other and Bass waved for Treble to follow, to which his mechanical wolf complied. They left the ruined room and walked down an equally destroyed hallway, the destruction and decay a constant reminder to them that something unusual has happened.

They reached the repair bay Bass mentioned and he had to force the door open, fighting against decades of rust and decay. Part of him even wondered if the tools would be in a useable condition and as Roll made him sit down on a bench and she dug out some tools and went to work, his question was apparently answered.

He watched her as she went to work, eventually commenting, "I didn't think you'd be able to do stuff like this." "I picked it up from Dr. Light," she said humbly, "I can't do it as well as him, but I'm good for field repairs." He chuckled and said, "Well I guess that's why Megaman brings you along everywhere. Here I thought he was just horribly irresponsible, what with the leading you into dangerous situations. " "Actually, I sneak along," she said with a mischievous smile. Bass couldn't help it, he burst out laughing.

"What?" she asked as he roared with laughter. "Nothing, nothing," he said and she patted him on the buster with, "There, that should do it for now. Don't go too crazy with it." He nodded her and gave her a thank you, but it was clear to see he wasn't too sincere. He stood up and prepared to leave the room, but stopped when he heard footsteps.

He placed himself against the wall and eased to the open door, waving Treble down when he heard a low growl from his companion, saying, "Easy boy, let's see what's going on first." Taking a slight glance outside, he saw five robots. Their design reminded him of Megaman and it set him boiling. Now robots were modeling themselves after that blue freak?

Without thinking, Bass stepped out into the hallway and shouted, "HEY! Just what do you think you're doing?" They looked at each other, then back to Bass. They stood silent for a moment, then opened fire. "Damn," he uttered as he slid back into the room.

"What did you do!?" Roll asked, confusion and fear on her face as the hail of weapons fire poured down the hall. "I just asked a freakin' question," he answered as the shots pelted the nearby wall, sending sparks in frenzied directions. "This is getting lame," Bass muttered as the shots died down. "Heh, finally," he said as he barrel rolled into the open, letting buster shots fly with precision accuracy, each shot hitting its target. Each of the offending attacker's collapsed, heads no longer present, and Bass let out a low whistle. "They might be creepy clones of the blue dweeb, but they sure aren't built as sturdy as him…"

Hearing the silence, Roll quietly poked her head out to see the situation, and sensing calm, came out and inspected Bass's handiwork with just a bit of contempt. "Did you HAVE to kill them all?" Bass scoffed and replied, "Look, they were shooting at us!" "They were shooting at YOU!" Roll countered. "Hey, they were trespassing, they got what they deserved!"

They would have argued for a bit longer, but Roll took a good look at one of the strange machines. "It…sorta looks like my brother," "Yeah, I thought so too, made him easier to shoot." Bass smirked at the end of his comment and Roll looked away, arms crossed, cheeks puffed out. Bass didn't mind, it was silence, gave him some time to think.

"_Place still has power," _he thought, _"Wily's panic room should still be in tact, that's what it's there for anyways, to…be there…"_

Without warning, Bass took off on his way, making Roll jump as she and Treble quickly followed in line with the Robot Master.

After a while, they had arrived at a wall and Bass had stopped. Before Roll could even ask what they were doing, Bass slammed his fist to the wall and a door whirred sickly, years of wear giving way to its basic function and the wall parted, revealing a short hallway and another, fresher, heavily reinforced door. Bass typed in a password on the adjacent keypad and the door opened, relinquishing its secret, Wily's panic room.

In the event of a dire emergency where Megaman or any untold force had Wily cornered and he didn't have the luxury of escape, Wily could run to this room. The panic room was a well-maintained, miniature command room. It was capable of numerous functions, no less being the full control of security systems, and Bass was quick to activate the security cameras.

One-by-one, multiple television screens gave their various views of the area and the trio were bathed in the view of age and desolation while others didn't turn on at all. "What happened to everything?" Roll asked, but Bass was too into his own world of thought to pay her any mind. He sat in a large chair in front of a console and let his hands fly over the keyboard. "Come on," he muttered, "Connect already…" **CONNECTION FAILED **flared on the console and he growled and tried again.

**CONNECTION FAILED**

Once more…

**CONNECTION FAILED**

Restraining himself from smashing the console, Bass sighed heavily and looked away. "Stupid piece of crap, can't even log on to the damn internet, ugh, why'd Wily even put that stupid satellite in orbit anyways?" "Maybe the satellite isn't in orbit anymore…"

Bass looked to Roll and said, "What?" "Everything looks so old and decayed, maybe…maybe the satellite just fell out of orbit…" "Damn it, do you realize how long that would take? We'd have to be so far in the future that it's not even funny!" Roll dropped her eyes to the floor and trailed her foot, saying, "Maybe…we are in the future…" This elicited a groan from Bass and a slight whine from Treble, but it gave Bass an idea.

"Considering that the panic room's antennae is still functional, if we try a little search, we can find another satellite and use that instead!" His hands were a flurry over the keyboard as he heard Roll mutter, "Maybe we're all that's left, what if there isn't anyone else here in the whole world?" "Stop being depressing, you're much better when you smile."

Roll cracked a smile at his comment and he rolled his eyes and went back to work. The origin of his comment wasn't sympathy, he'd just rather do without a complaining, depressing companion, even if they were the only ones left in the whole planet.

**CONNECTION ACHIEVED**

"Perfect," he said with glee as he did his best to find any information to help the situation, locations, events, dates, anything. That's when his jaw dropped and he fell out of the chair. "What's wrong?" Asked a concerned Roll as Treble stepped up to his master. Roll eyed the console's monitor and gasped.

Today's date, as far as they had known it, was May 6, 20XX.

The date was May 6, 22XX.

"No way, no freakin' way!" Bass stood up and put his hands to his head, pulled off his helmet, and tossed it down in anger, exposing short, white hair. "There's just no freaking way we were blasted into the future! How the hell does a damn disintegrator laser send you into the future!"

Roll furrowed her brow and replied, "Bass, energy can't be created or destroyed…there's no such thing as a disintegrator laser…Wily's laser didn't zap us into nothingness, it zapped us into the future…way…WAY into the future…" "Damn it! When I get my hands on Wily's neck, I'll wring it until his head falls off! YOU HEAR ME OLD MAN!? I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" "Bass, calm down, relax," Roll said soothingly. "Let's just…try to find out more of our situation."

They sat and read on anything they could find. Strangely, there was no information from their timeline, so they didn't know what happened to Megaman, Dr. Wily, Dr. Light, none of them. What they did find, however, was just as interesting.

The invention of Reploids, the Maverick Wars, the Eurasia colony crash, the Elf Wars, the Maverick leader Sigma who apparently didn't know how to stay dead, the legendary Reploid Zero, the prototype Axl, and the most amazing of all, the great war hero, Megaman X.

"So he started calling himself X?" Bass asked, "What, he think that makes him sound cooler or something? Bah…" Rolled ignored him and read up on all of Megaman X's accomplishments, and was astounded. "He's…incredible, amazing, wow…I thought Megaman was good before, but…he's so…so…just wow…"

"What are you blathering on about," Bass chided as he looked over the information. Even he whistled in surprise. Numerous Maverick uprisings, countless showdowns with Sigma, even defeating the Reploid Zero. Single-handedly ending the Maverick Wars and starting the Elf Wars at about the same time. He was even the base for every single Reploid on the planet…which…made little sense to Bass. If Megaman was FIRST, how come he was apparently advanced enough to defeat any enemy that came his way? Was Dr. Light really THAT good of a scientist?

What unsettled the Robot Master, however, was that there was absolutely no mention of him whatsoever, and only a brief mention of Dr. Wily, as if they were a mere stepping stone in history. That was just a tad bit more than annoying. Bass would have kept looking, but Treble barked at something on the security monitors.

"What is it boy?" Bass asked as Treble merely looked up at a particular monitor revealing a white and red Reploid with golden horns affixed to his helmet and what looked like a powerful weapon, some type of pair of jaws over a long distance weapon.

"Who is that?" Roll asked. "Let's find out…" Bass said as he went back to his console. "Fighting Fefnir, one of the four guardians of Master X…wait…Master X?" A new direction in mind, Bass did his research on X, leading to the founding of Neo Arcadia. It was around here that he reached problems.

**WARNING! ILLEGAL CONNECTION! TERMINATING IMMEDIATELY!**

"Shit," Bass shouted as his connection died. He pounded the console to no avail and sighed. "Well at least we got SOME information and…" His eyes trailed to the security monitors, "By the look of things, our friend Fefnir has help with him, so let's try to get out of here, it's only a matter of time before they find this room if someone traced the connection, and I'd rather not get in a firefight in such close quarters." Roll nodded and said, "Does this room have an escape route?" "Nope, Wily's mind works weird. In emergencies, he thinks of escape or hiding, not both. Come on, if we're lucky, we'll avoid any unnecessary encounters. Normally I wouldn't mind a good fight, but with my buster not exactly 100 percent, I'd rather not push things."

Roll nodded in understanding, and before they left, Bass retrieved his helmet and activated a killswitch that fried all remaining information in the system and even took out the main power, the entire building now only loosely illuminated by red emergency lights that barely provided any vision.

As he led Roll down the hallway, Treble dutifully following, he reminded himself that what he did was merely protocol in the event that the base was infested with intruders. Not to mention, if the system was still in any type of shape, it'd have information on himself. In a world where he didn't exist, as much as that pissed him off, it was better for him to stay non-existent than it was to reveal himself to potential enemies.

Lucky for Bass, his superb navigation of the base, even without power, was far greater than any knowledge the intruders had and he made it to the exit rather easily. After that, it was just the simple task of walking through the door and into freedom. A stalwart breath and he pushed the door open and walked into the bright unknown.

Desert. Sand as far as the eye could see. A broken down Wily Castle crawling with enemies didn't seem quite so bad…it's a good thing robots didn't REQUIRE eating, it just helped replenish lost energy.

"Where are we gonna go?" Roll whispered. "Don't know. Maybe we'll try to find that Neo Arcadia…" The sound of weapons cocking, however, made Bass reevaluate his plan. To his left, several of the Megaman clones had their weapons trained on him. To his right, even more. From the right, that reploid he'd seen on the camera, Fefnir, walked into view and pushed his way to the front with a few scientists.

"The power source, it's one of these two," one of the scientists said with the other two nodding in agreement. "Now…" Fefnir said, "You," pointing to Roll, "Don't look like you're made for combat, but you," pointing to Bass, "Even if your design's a bit retro, you look like you can fight." He raised his fist to the air and shouted, "How about it, want a go with Fighting Fefnir?"

Bass, a bit reluctant to fight as he didn't know how many shots he had in his buster before it went out on him again, still smirked and said, "Do I have a choice?" Fefnir returned the smirk and waved to his troops, "Pantheons, stand back, he's mine."

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Ending Notes: I figured this would be a good enough place to end the first chapter, tell me what you think! For those who follow my writing, by now, you should be able to tell that Bass is my absolute favorite character. As should be the way of the author, as long as at least ONE person out there is interested in the story, I'll keep writing, so as long as it makes just ONE review, I'll keep writing, so please, don't hold back, tell me what you think, give me suggestions, give me complaints, it doesn't matter!


	2. Chapter 2

Some Author's Notes: Oh wow, didn't think I'd make six reviews this fast, let alone at all, heh. I guess that means I did SOMETHING right, and as per what I said, as long as at least ONE person is interested, the story goes on, so thanks for the reviews!

Pesky Disclaimer: Don't own Megaman characters, it's all Capcom.

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"How about it, want a go with Fighting Fefnir?"

"Do I have a choice?"

Bass mulled over his situation. Here he is, two hundred years in the future with just his faithful companion, Treble, and the sister of the one person he can't stand, and he's staring down a slew of Megaman clones with busters aimed at him, taking orders from some red and white Reploid who's completely ready to throw down with him. Oh yeah, and it was only a matter of time before his damaged buster gave out on him.

Oh joy.

Regardless, as these so-called 'pantheon' units stood back, as per ordered, Bass was ready for combat. The Pantheons formed a semi-ring around Bass, Roll, and Treble, the trio still partly in the exit of Wily Castle. As Fefnir walked into the ring, Bass ordered Treble to keep an eye on Roll. Last thing he needed was the girl somehow generating more trouble than she was worse, especially in the midst of a brewing battle.

"Be careful, Lord Fefnir!" Bass heard one of the scientists shout. "His energy signature, it's very similar to Zero's!" Fefnir's eye perked at the statement. "Really? Well good, sounds like this will be more fun than I thought!" "Who the hell is Zero?" Bass asked indignantly. "Zero's the most fun I've ever had," Fefnir replied, "I wonder how you'll measure up to him!"

Bass growled, annoyed that he was being compared to someone he didn't even know, worst of all by yet ANOTHER person he didn't know. "Look, are you gonna talk or are you gonna fight?" Fefnir laughed at the comment, replying, "I like you kid, you and that fire in your eyes. I can tell, you're like me, you like to fight. What's your name, kid?" "The name's Bass, and I'm no kid!" Fefnir fought down a laugh and nodded. "Well Bass, let's go!"

At the end of his comment, Fefnir charged Bass, kicking up a storm of dust as he quickly closed the distance between himself and his target and slammed his knuckle buster into Bass's chest. "Ngh!" was all Bass could muster as he flew into the nearby wall.

"That's it?" Fefnir was sincerely disappointed. After all his scientists were worried about, for the guy to go down in one blow, that was just sad. "Tough punch, fast one too. Didn't see it coming, I'll be ready for the next one."

The statement Bass made as he pulled himself from the wall brought a smile to Fefnir's face. Maybe this would be a good fight after all. Then after he knocked this kid around for a while, maybe, just maybe, he'd ask what the odd looking Reploid was doing in the middle of nowhere.

With his thought logged away, Fefnir, in another incredible burst of speed, took off, knuckle buster raised and ready, but Bass rolled to the side and with a precision shot from his buster, gave Fefnir some extra momentum, which sent him sailing into the same wall that Bass had smashed into.

_"Feh," _thought Bass, _"That should have done more damage to him than that, what's his armor made out of?" _"Not bad, Bass, was it?" Fefnir asked as he pried himself free of the wall and cricked his neck. "Maybe I shouldn't hold back after all. Just as good, it's not really my style, more of a Harpuia thing." Bass had no idea who this Harpuia was, but if he was as strong as Fefnir was hinting at, then things might get hairy later on.

Fefnir charged once more, letting Bass know that head-on was his style of combat, which was fine for the Robot Master. He rolled to the side to avoid the charge, but what surprised him was how Fefnir turned on his heel, skidded to a stop, and let a powerful fireball fly from his knuckle buster.

"Damn," Bass uttered as he hit the dirt, letting the ball of flame whiz past him, the searing heat almost unbelievable, then after careful inspection of his helmet, he shouted, "Hey you jerk! You melted my fin!" It was true, as Bass's fingers inspected the damage, a portion of his left fin had been melted clean off. "You're gonna pay for that!"

Bass charged his buster and fired, sending a screaming shot of searing hot plasma at Fefnir, who blocked with his knuckle buster, expecting the shot to dissipate, but to his surprise, it merely continued to push against him, and in the soft desert sand, he was beginning to lose his footing. "One more!" Bass shouted as another charged shot came Fefnir's way, colliding with the one he was already struggling with, increasing it in size, power, and momentum.

Fefnir finally swatted the dangerous plasma energy aside and watched as it collided with, and obliterated a trio of his pantheon unit. "That's some power that kid's got," Fefnir said as a familiar scream of plasma came his way and he threw himself to the side and let plasma fly past him.

As he got to his feet, he was tackled by Bass, who slammed his fist into the guardian's face with surprising force. The two tumbled on the ground before Fefnir finally fought Bass off and let loose a torrent of shots from his knuckle buster, straight into the sky. The action drew Bass's attention upwards, then sent him scrambling as balls of molten heat came crashing down onto the planet. The intense heat of flaming meteors distracted Bass, and the Robot Master had no time to defend as Fefnir's knuckle buster opened and clamped its jaws on his waist.

"Grah, damn it!" Bass shouted as he put his hands to those powerful jaws and struggled in vain to free himself. Plan B, he aimed his buster point blank at Fefnir and charged, taking a moment to smirk at the look of impending doom on Fefnir's face before his buster crackled with electricity and a piece of it blew off with such force that it impaled another Pantheon guard.

Pain ran through Bass as he struggled to find some type of balance in the situation. Now his buster was gone and he was slowly being crushed by a pair of jaws. He needed some sort of weapon to defend himself with! Maybe he could get to Treble and risk fusing into Gospel, but in both their worn conditions, and with Bass's busted buster, he might risk serious damage to his canine companion. Well here's a thought, if he needs a weapon, why not take his opponent's?

Placing a confident hand on Fefnir's arm, Bass felt a familiar surge of energy course through his body as Fefnir glowed, then Bass, then Fefnir's glow died down, and finally so did Bass's.

**COPY DATA: DATA REPLICATION…SUCCESSFUL**

"What, what did you do?" Shouted Fefnir as the shock of inexplicably glowing died down. Bass answered, "I gave myself an advantage."

**DATA REPLICATION PROCESS COMPLETE…BEGINNING ARMOR RECONFIGURATION**

"Beginning what?" Bass asked as his armor burst into flames. "Lord Fefnir!" One of the scientists shouted, "His energy signature is spiking, it's…it's unbelievable!" While the scientist was going on about the incredible burst in energy, Bass felt a surge of power in his body he never felt unless he fused with Treble into Gospel. The golden lining of his black armor was replaced by a pattern of flames, while his greaves and gauntlets became more compact. His fins had thinned and jutted further upwards into a pair of golden horns as a visor appeared over his eyes. To top it all off, a pair of his own knuckle busters appeared, one for either hand. Versus Fefnir's design, his knuckle busters were smaller and were far sharper on the outer edges, indicating a preference for slashing, rather than crushing.

"What the HELL are you?!" Fefnir exclaimed as his scientists, and the until now quiet Roll gasped at the transformation. Even Treble displayed genuine surprise and curiosity at his master's change. "I'm Bass, the most powerful Robot Master," He replied as he thrust his own knuckle buster at Fefnir's face, the jaws opening and clamping on the Reploid's head, "REMEMBER IT!"

Fefnir used his free hand to try and pry the powerful jaws off his head, but to no avail, the jaws clamped on him were almost as strong as his own! The guardian had to let Bass free of his knuckle buster, but not before letting loose a powerful fireball, pointblank at the Robot Master, the force sufficient enough to push Bass away and free Fefnir of the jaws that were affixed to his skull.

"Tch," Fefnir spat, "He's no joke, I don't like it, but I might have to use the Pantheon's as backup. Damn, if only he hadn't caught me off-guard with somehow copying my powers…no, I'll beat him with my own powers, I'M FIGHTING FEFNIR!"

Bass took a second to check over his armor before hearing Fefnir's outburst and locked eyes with the Reploid before dashing forward, the thrusters in his feet giving him extra momentum. Likewise, Fefnir charged Bass, his powerful feet kicking up dirt in their wake.

They clashed and quickly rebounded before the guardian's temper reached its peak and he became encased in flames. Bass, taking note of Fefnir's abilities for his own sake, concentrated until he felt a searing heat rise through his body. It wasn't painful, it was just a feeling he wasn't used to, so it came off as a bit uncomfortable.

At that, Bass and Fefnir rushed each other once more, two crimson stars ready to exchange blows. They locked and in their wake, an explosion of flames shot into the sky, a torrent of swirling flames that scorched the heavens. When the flames died down, a pair of worn machines could be seen, but to everyone's surprise, Bass flexed his arm and said, "One more go?"

Fefnir looked incredulously at Bass for a few moments before bursting into laughter and replying, "You're too much, maybe later, even I know when I've hit my limit." Fefnir fought the urge to fall on his knee, dusted himself a bit, and walked to the scientists. "Pantheon unit, take our friends here prisoner, I want them…_ALIVE_." The Pantheons saluted as Fefnir teleported away with the scientists, who were protesting about not getting into Wily Castle.

"You heard your boss," Bass said, "Come line up to die!" Now Pantheon units were built to follow their orders to the letter, which gave them the appearance that they lacked emotions, had no fear and the like, but after seeing their commander actually back down from this newcomer who somehow managed to copy their leader's abilities, they weren't so happy to go into the fray. "Not gonna play?" Bass said, "Then stand still."

Bass ripped into the Pantheon unit, forcing their retaliation. He was fatigued at this point, way past it really, but luckily for him, his fight with Fefnir had diminished the number of enemies he had to deal with, and like most anything, enough heat, and they melted.

"Whoo!" Bass shouted to the sky as he finally stood the victor of this clash. He fell back on the ground, staring at the sky, laughing as his armor reverted to its original state.

**COPY DATA: FIGHTER MODE SAVE? Y/N**

Normally, like Megaman, Bass could copy the powers of multiple enemies and use them to his advantage. The only problem was that each new power took up an incredibly large portion of his processor and he could only keep so many before the lack of capacity in his processor manifested itself as slower reaction times and system crashes, both fatal in combat, thus, after a set number of powers, usually eight or so—even if Wily said he had no problem until he absorbed twenty powers—Bass would purge the data and free up space. So he only had a few powers on hand, powers that probably would have made his fight easier, but his mind hadn't been completely on logic at the moment.

"Yes," he uttered as Treble and Roll came up to him.

**COPY DATA: BASS-FIGHTER MODE SAVED**

"Bass, you're injured," Roll said, stating the obvious. "So I am," Bass said, "I've had worse." It was a lie. Megaman never outright tried to beat Bass into the dirt and as Bass inspected his own damage, he realized just what kind of shape he was in. Numerous dents in his chest armor, a melted fin on his helmet, the blue gem in his chest was shattered, his waist was in horrendous pain from being nearly crushed by Fefnir's knuckle buster, and his buster was toast.

"_Damn,"_ he thought, _"I won't be able to take another one, not without serious repairs, probably a total overhaul…" _He looked up as Treble whined, concerned for his master, and Bass patted the robotic wolf on the head and said, "Don't worry boy, it'll take more than that to take me out."

"Come on," He said as he stood up and stumbled a bit. "Let's go, we shouldn't be here when reinforcements come." "Where will we go, Bass?" Roll asked. "I don't know," He replied, "But we can't stay here." He patted his armor and added, "Not even for repairs."

He took a step forward and nearly fell over, but was caught by Roll. "Just what do you think you're doing?" He asked, annoyed. "Put your pride away for a moment and let me help you. If we aren't even going to TRY and get you repaired, you're going to need help."

So their trek began in the desert, three lost little robots who didn't have a clue of where they were heading, marching across and endless sea of sand. "You know," Roll said, "I don't remember the area around Wily's castle being…this dead." "Stuff happens in two hundred years, I guess," Bass replied as he nearly tripped under his own weight. He flashed a grin at Treble, the wolf carrying a look of concern for his master.

One annoying thing about being a machine was being able to keep the progression of the day logged in one's mind, so the trio were perfectly aware that they had walked for hours on end. "Does it ever end," Roll whispered as Bass stayed silent.

"No," answered a low voice. "Desert covers nearly all the planet, a reminder of the price we paid for the Maverick and Elf Wars."

The trio of robots turned to see a new figure. Black and white, his face was covered by a sharp mask. A red scarf flowed from behind him as he stood there, a large beam shuriken in his hand. He stood tall, a bit leaned back, said shuriken placed expertly behind him as if ready to toss in any given direction.

"I am Twilight Phantom, one of the four guardians of Master X, and you, I presume, are the Reploids discovered in Wily Castle. You made it rather far, I almost lost your tracks." Bass pushed Roll aside and said, "You want to fight too?" "In your condition, do you find that wise?" Phantom asked, a genuine question. "I don't care about being wise," Bass shouted, "All I care about is crushing any opponent that comes my way!"

With his comment said, Bass decided to wrap things up quickly. Arms to the sky, he shouted, "ASTRO CRUSH!" With the power of Astroman invoked, the sky turned dark as blazing meteors rained down on the battlefield, making Roll scream as they impacted in the ground. Unfortunately, Phantom was fast, too fast for the meteors to make contact, and with ease, he tossed his shuriken to Bass, who threw himself on the ground to avoid it.

"Fine, I'll fight you the good ole fashioned way, BEATING YOU INTO THE GROUND! FIGHTER MODE, ACTIVATE!"

**WARNING! CURRENT WEAR ON USER MAY PREVENT SUCCESSFUL TRANSFORMATION!**

"Ignore," Bass said as his armor burst into flames, becoming Fighter Mode once more. "Incredible, so Fefnir was telling the truth," Phantom said to himself as he eyed the threat that was Bass, slowly growing. _"He could be as troublesome as Zero if not stopped," _Phantom thought. _"I should eliminate him, but Master X has become intrigued by him. I shall follow my orders."_

As the flames around Bass died down, electricity ran over his body and he screamed in pain, eventually dropping down. "BASS!" Roll shouted as she dropped to his side, his armor reverting to normal. His last words as his eyes fluttered and he slipped into system shutdown was, "Damn…"

----------

Bass moved a little in his sleep, the world of the living slowly coming back to him. He could even hear voices. "So this is the one that kicked your butt, eh, Fefnir," said a playful voice. "Shut it, Leviathan!" Fefnir's voice replied, "He just caught me off-guard, that's all! Phantom didn't even get a real fight with him anyways, so how do you know he wouldn't have gotten his ass kicked either, huh?"

The two continued to argue, slowly ticking off Bass as he tried his best to look like he was still asleep. He moved a little and was able to feel that his chest armor, his helmet, his gauntlets and greaves, they'd all been removed. He could also feel that his arms and legs were restrained somehow. He thought about it, and realized he actually felt far better than when he had passed out. _"Check combat status," _he thought.

"_Buster status."_

**OFFLINE**

"_Thruster function."_

**OFFLINE**

"_Enemy data function."_

**OFFLINE**

"He's awake," Phantom's voice said. "Damn, and here I thought I was a good actor." Bass opened his eyes and tried to sit up, forgetting he was restrained. He was strapped to a medical cot, large metal shackles holding down his arms and legs. The room he was in was an immaculate white room with no ornamentation. He looked over to see Phantom leaning against the wall in a corner, while Fefnir, armor already repaired, stared at him with his arms crossed. The third occupant, who he guessed was Leviathan, was a pretty girl in his opinion, blue and white armor with large, blue eyes and a cheerful smile. Her helmet had a pair of large, downward pointing fins with openings at the ends and he almost didn't have a reply to her presence.

"What are you staring at," He finally said. She giggled and said, "He's cute, I like him, can we keep him?" "Cute?" Bass said in response and quickly tries to wrest his body free of his restraints. "Why don't you let me go!? I'LL SHOW YOU CUTE!"

"Knock it off, all of you," Said a new member as the door opened. At the presence of this green and white Reploid, the others straightened considerably, giving Bass the impression that this was apparently the leader. He stood tall, a small pair of wings sprouting from his back as his helmet sported larger ones. He walked to Bass and said, "I am Sage Harpuia. This is Fairy Leviathan and of course you've met Fighting Fefnir and Twilight Phantom."

Bass wasn't interested, there were only a few things on his mind. "Where am I?" "You're in the medical bay of a prison in Neo Arcadia." "My companion, where is—" Harpuia cut him off, "The girl is safe in her own cell." "I meant my dog."

Harpuia blinked a few times in light of Bass's apparent lack of care as far as the girl was concerned. "The beast is fine as well, though he proved difficult to calm, he's in his own holding cell, under restraint." "If you hurt him," Bass began, "I'm going to rip those wings off your head and feed them to you!" "Quite," Harpuia said, not concerned by the comment.

"Why did you repair me?" Bass asked, "Because you were in such bad shape that we wouldn't be able to get any information out of you otherwise. You've been offline for about a week as we rendered repairs, but they proved difficult considering your…condition." "My condition?"

Harpuia closed the distance between himself and Bass and replied, "It was hard to find the correct parts. You ARE two-hundred years old, after all." The other guardians shifted at this comment, even Phantom seemed surprised. "Yes," Harpuia continued, "Some of the scientists were remarking about your ancient build. Most of your parts had to be completely refitted, you weren't a Reploid before, but you're sure close to one now."

Leviathan finally burst out laughing. "You mean to tell me tough ole Fighting Fefnir got his ass kicked by a piece of two-hundred year old tech?! That's too rich!" "HEY! He caught me off-guard, OKAY!?"

Bass smirked and said, "Let me go, I'll catch you off-guard again." At this, Fefnir stepped up, but was blocked by Harpuia, "Let me at him, come on, let me have a go at him, I'll rip him limb from artificial limb!" "Fefnir, calm yourself," Harpuia coolly replied.

"Grrr, this isn't over, Bass." Fefnir resigned himself to leaning on a wall, like Phantom. "So, Bass, that is your name, I take it. ID number SWN 001. We discovered it on your processor." "Stupid Wily," Bass scoffed, "Tell the world, why don't you…"

Harpuia said nothing, merely let Bass finish his rant. After he was sure the Robot Master was finished, he began to speak again. "Tell me, Bass, how did you come online after two hundred years, and in good enough condition to take on Fefnir? Was it some type of automated response to someone entering Wily Castle?" "The hell are you talking about?" Bass asked, "I didn't come online, I got zapped here by my creator's stupid not-so-doomsday weapon." "Time travel?" Harpuia perked an eyebrow at the concept. "Neo Arcadia's best scientists deemed it implausible." "Well surprise," Bass muttered, "It's _QUITE _plausible."

After a bit more conversation, Bass asked, "Why don't you let me go so I can get out of here?" "I'm sorry, that is not possible," Harpuia replied. "Master X wishes to speak with you himself." Bass huffed and if he was able to, he would have crossed his arms. He quickly said, "I've got nothing to say to that blue dweeb." All four guardians shifted uncomfortably, each with the slightest hint of content in their eye and Harpuia said, "Watch how you address the leader of Neo Arcadia."

----------

Roll sighed as she looked over her pure white cell. There was a monitor available that seemed to only broadcast news, lots of propaganda against some kind of resistance force, and there was a view of the sky thanks to a small window, no doubt reinforced. She was sitting on her bed, letting her feet rock back and forth, worrying about Bass. The Robot Master seemed hardy enough, but he'd been pretty damaged when he passed out.

"He'll be okay. Have faith."

Roll looked up at her roommate, a small Reploid girl of blonde hair, fiercely clutching a stuffed animal. "You're right, Alouette. Besides, it's not like he's worrying about me or anything." The little girl climbed on the bed next to Roll and asked, "Does he hate you?" "No," Roll shook her head, "He's just…obsessed with other things. He has to prove he's the strongest robot alive. That means he has to fight anyone he thinks is strong, means he's always fighting with my brother, means…he doesn't know how to care about anyone."

The little Reploid scooted closer to Roll and asked, "Who is he, anyways?" Roll sighed and looked at the ceiling, piercing white lights gleaming down on her, and she replied, "He's Bass, made by the evil rival of my creator to destroy my brother, but Bass doesn't really care. All he cares about is proving he's the strongest, that just happens to include going through my brother. Of course, my brother just happens to be the one opponent he can't beat and it drives him nuts. To top it off, he's always trying to get Bass to join with us, stand against his creator and be a good guy, but I don't know if that's ever going to work…"

Alouette stared at Roll for a while and asked, "And what's your story?" The older, two-hundred year older, robot girl replied, "Not much really, I was one of the first advanced robots of my time, me and my brother Rock. He went on to save the day time and time again and there I'd be, sitting at home, wondering if he'd ever come back in one piece, so I started sneaking along, following him, determined to make sure he made it back safe."

The younger of the robots said, "He sounds a lot like Megaman X, before he started treating all Reploids like they were all defective. That's what they were calling me, defective. I don't know why, but one day, Pantheons came, tore me from my home, and were going to eliminate me, but the Resistance saved me. Their leader, Ciel, is actually a human, a smart scientist who started raising me like her own. I wandered too far away from the Resistance base one day and a Neo Arcadian patrol found me and now I'm bait for the Resistance. Part of me is hoping to be saved, but the rest of me doesn't want to put anyone in the Resistance in danger."

The girl looked to the floor and fought a tear, and was soon met with an embrace from Roll. "It'll be okay, don't worry, we'll figure a way out of here and you won't have to put anyone you care about in danger, okay?" Alouette smiled as Roll added, "Just listen to your new big sis, okay?" "Okay," Alouette replied, "Big sis, tee-hee."

----------

Bass groaned at the prospect of seeing Megaman or X or whatever it was he was calling himself these days. Granted, from the way his guardians spoke about him, he apparently developed a backbone in the last two-hundred years. Could it really be the same annoying Blue Bomber he was made to take down?

If he was, chained down or not, weaponless or no, Bass would plaster his rival's face into the dirt, once and for all.

----------

Some Ending Notes: Well there's Chapter Two, I hope it lives to expectations, if not, well then let me know and I'll improve.

Some things, the new Bass-Fighter mode comes from an image of Vente/Aile in the FX model armor from Megaman ZX.

Phantom's name as Twilight Phantom is pretty much my idea, since he was destroyed before they gave him his full name like the others.

Special thanks goes to PiKA of DEWM, RandyPandy, RebornEnvy, Stormwind, Kazenouchi Aeron, and Kyuubi no Tai for being my reviewers, I hope the chapter was good enough for you.

Next Time: Join Bass as he figures out a way to escape from his new prison. Will he meet X? Will he break Roll out of prison too? Will he meet Zero? Find this all out next time!


	3. Chapter 3

Some Author's Notes: Well here's Chapter Three, and for those that read The Misadventures of Bass and are wondering if I'd abandoned it, no worries, I just needed to be serious for a while, it'll get updated in due time.

I hope you enjoy my renditions of each of the characters, I'm TRYING to stay as close to their mentalities as possible, so…don't kill me if you don't like how a character acts or something.

Pesky Disclaimer: Bass, Megaman Classic characters in general, Megaman Zero characters, heck ALL that Megaman stuff…I totally don't own it, that's all Capcom.

----------

"How many days has it been?"

Bass asked the question to himself, looking up at his boring, unattractive ceiling as the fourth day rolled by without event. All he had to look forward to was one of the guardians spending to keep a watchful eye on him. It was still boring, but it taught him a few things.

Fefnir was easy to tick off.

Leviathan's…flirting with him?

Phantom needs a life, some personality, SOMETHING.

Harpuia could be cool if he took the time to laugh or something…

The Robot Master had been waiting for his fateful reunion with Megaman, but it didn't seem to be happening any time soon. What, was the jerk purposefully waiting, ticking him off?

So Bass lay there, strapped to a bed, arms and legs shackled. He thought a bit on his weapon status for the umpteenth time.

"_Buster status."_

**OFFLINE**

"_Thruster function."_

**OFFLINE**

"_Enemy data function."_

**OFFLINE**

"_Copy data function."_

**OFFLRJGHS…**

"_Huh?"_ he thought as he brought up all information on his Copy Data ability. Whoever tried to lock him out of it did a bad job. Then again, it wasn't too surprising. Fefnir had been completely surprised when Bass absorbed his powers, as if he'd never even SEEN it before. THAT was puzzling. If they served Megaman, like they said, then they should have been wholly used to the idea.

Thinking, it came to him that if no one had seen that kind of ability in a while, then whoever tried to lock him out of his power actually had no idea what they were doing. The encryption codes were simply degrading as time went by, more than likely due to some type of software Wily built into him, maybe the old man wasn't so useless after all.

Work ahead of him, Bass focused his thoughts on breaking the encryption on his Copy Data ability. If he could get a new weapon, it would override his locked out Enemy Data ability because he'd automatically switch to the new power. That would give him an unexpected edge, something to surprise the guardians with, then he could escape from this stupid prison, track down Treble, and get the hell out of here. After that, he could focus on more important things, like snapping Megaman in half and getting back to his own timeline.

"_Copy data function."_

**PROCESSING…**

…**PROCESSING…**

"_Come on…"_

**ONLINE**

"Perfect," he said out loud before laughing.

"What's so funny?" a familiar, playful voice asked. Bass looked over to see that Leviathan had entered the room and he shrugged, saying, "I was just finding my situation too funny. Trapped in the future, no weapons, chained to a bed, and waiting for the one guy I can't stand to finally get here. It's all real funny if you stop to think about it."

"I suppose," she replied as she pulled up a chair and sat by his bed. It had been her style over the past few days to sit closer to him than any of the other guardians, who kept a healthy distance. She even ruffled her hands through his hair and called him cute, so maybe he could use that to his advantage.

A few words exchanged between the two and Bass got the girl talking about herself as if he were truly interested. She went on about her duties as a guardian, how she loved pushing Fefnir's buttons, and how she failed miserably at getting Harpuia and Phantom to lighten up. The only thing that interested Bass was when she spoke of her capabilities and how she was more suited to underwater combat, freezing things, etc., but she quickly went back to the nonsensical stuff.

"_Blah, blah, blah," _Bass thought, _"Does this girl ever shut up?" _"And then there are the night clubs, not too many nowadays, but the ones we do have are pretty sweet. Oh if I could only find a guy that wasn't terrified of me. I tell you, being one of Master X's guardians is an honor, but walk into a room and it's like you sucked the life out of the party. Everyone's so scared of me that I have to change out of my armor just so no one notices, and any time I find a nice guy and I tell him the truth, he freaks on me and runs away."

Bass blinked, almost forgetting that robots didn't need to breathe, so they could very well string sentences together in a never-ending fashion like Leviathan was apparently capable of. Really, how could he get a word in the conversation if she kept talking?

Around now, it occurred to him that she'd actually stopped talking and was looking at him. "Well gee, I was expecting some kind of reply, but complete silence? That's no way to treat a lady," Leviathan said.

"Sorry," Bass replied as he slowly swallowed a growing knot in his throat as he realized his plan would be the biggest blow to his pride in a while, but still, he needed to get out of here. "I…heh, I have to admit, I was sorta staring at you and zoned out there. I mean I was listening to you, your troubles and all, but I hadn't noticed you'd stopped talking."

He was certain he'd seen Leviathan blush at the comment, but fought his usual urge to smirk, instead, he continued laying it on, rather thick in his opinion. He fought the urge to gag as he said, "But I'm not scared of you, you were just made to be a fighter, like me, that's all. Don't let it get you down, there's someone made for you, I just know there is…ugh…"

Leviathan's eyes shot up, "What was that?" "Nothing," Bass replied, "Just my throat's a little dry, you know, all I've had as far as food is concerned is…a tube feeding energy into me, not exactly home cooking, you know?"

Leviathan laughed a little and replied, "Yeah, well, it was either that or, considering you're kinda chained down, someone spoon-fed you and Harpuia was sure you wouldn't stand for that."

"True," Bass replied, "But you guys locked all my combat functions, I mean it's not like I'd be able to do anything." Bass shifted a bit in his restraints and added, "You could at least let one of my hands free, just for a moment, let me rub a few sore spots, y'know?"

Leviathan looked skeptical, but cracked as she saw Bass flash what she was sure was a genuine smile. After all, the cute, ancient robot hadn't been trouble, just…angry all the time. Not to mention he was SUCH a good listener, she could never get any of the guardians to talk to her.

"Okay," She replied as she bit the tip of her finger. She walked to the medical cot and to an adjacent console. "Only for a moment," she added as she typed in a command. Already, Bass could feel the metal restraint on his right hand weaken a little, but Leviathan quickly said, "Hey, I know what this is, you're trying to do something funny, aren't you? You know, Fefnir told us all about your little hand trick, stealing his powers, thought you'd try it, huh?"

Bass groaned as the restraints returned to their original state and he was stuck back to being chained down. "Like I said, all my combat functions are locked, LOCKED, what the hell could I possibly do?" "I don't know," Leviathan admitted as she shook her head, "But Harpuia said to watch out for you. Still, I'll give you an A for effort, and this."

She leaned down and pecked him on the cheek and he smirked before a low laugh began to escape his lips. Normally, he absorbed powers through his hands, but technically, any unexposed part of his body, say his face, could absorb the powers as well, Leviathan had given him just what he needed.

**ENEMY DATA FUNCTION: ONLINE**

Without any armor, all that happened was a quick shift in the hue of his hair, going from white to blue. He focused new ice powers into his hands and feet, feeling the restraints freeze before his own strength snapped them free and he shot up in front of a startled Leviathan, who quickly produced her spear and thrust, but Bass rolled underneath her and tripped her legs out from under her. As she fell to the ground, he grabbed and pinned her arms behind her back, his hair turned orange, and he said, "Thunder Claw!"

Clownman's ability invoked, a burst of electricity shot from him and latched onto her arms. "I…I can't move my arms, what did you do, you jerk!?" Bass got up and hoisted Leviathan to her feet, saying, "It's called Thunder Claw. Neat little restraining move, though all Clownman used it for was…well…I don't know, personally, I couldn't stand the hapless excuse for a Robot Master, made a better toaster if you asked me…Well," He quickly threw her in the direction of the door, "Let's get going."

"Going where?" Leviathan spat, more upset at being in the situation more than for actually falling into it in the first place. "First thing's first," He said, "I need my dog. Then my armor. Then you're getting me out of here."

"Why would I help you escape?" Leviathan's genuine question was met with Bass growling, his hand quickly changing into a large, sharp, circular gear. "It's called Metal Gear, a gift from Metalman. I've got two other powers stored in my memory too. Unless you want me testing them on you, I suggest you cooperate."

Leviathan scoffed and said, "What about your friend?" "My who?" "That…girl, you know the one with you?" "Oh," Bass looked off for a moment before replying, "You guys can keep her, I don't have a use for her." "So she really is nothing to you," Leviathan asked, curiously. "You idiots were actually wasting time wondering about something stupid like that? Of COURSE she means nothing to me, why would she? She's not a buster and she doesn't have any powers that would help in a fight, she's useless. Now stop worrying about stupid stuff and let's get moving!"

**COPY DATA: FAIRY MODE SAVE? Y/N**

Bass scowled. "Can't I call it something different?"

**DIFFERENT NAME MAY INTERFERE WHEN DATA IS RECALLED FROM DATABASE, SUGGESTED THAT NAME NOT BE CHANGED**

"Fine, fine, yes, save."

**COPY DATA: FAIRY MODE SAVED**

After careful inspection that the coast was clear, Bass forced his prisoner outside the room and followed, looking over what seemed to be a high up floor in a building full of identical cells. "Where's my dog," he huffed as he gave her an initial push forward.

"This is the medical wing, he's in the detention wing. The elevator's right over there, we can just—" "No elevators," Bass said, cutting her off. "We walk." Really, like he would fall for such a trap. A box with a huge camera glaring down at him while some security drone sat in a room with a finger on a button that could send him straight into a horde of enemies, or something worse.

Leviathan made a whine, something about not liking how far they'd have to walk, but Bass pushed her and she led him down corridors, through hallways and staircases, and they walked for what Bass logged as a full eleven minutes before Bass said, "What's up with lax security?" "Well," Leviathan started, "We normally don't send full combat capable machines here, our prisoners can't even bend the spoons they eat with, let alone their restraints or doors, we should have thought a bit more when it came to you…"

"_Damn straight," _he thought as they stopped at a large, barred door. "Your mutt's in here," Leviathan shot to the side, but Bass ignored it, merely saying, "How do I get it open?" Leviathan rolled her eyes and replied, "If you let me go, I can do it…" "No thanks," Bass shot back. The hand that was currently using Metal Gear whirred to life and he said, "Now how do I open the door?"

A sigh from Leviathan before she said, "The code is 1156A, type it into the pad over there." Bass's hand reverting to normal as he keyed in her code, he said, "See how easier it works when you just give me what I want?"

She huffed as the doors whirred open and slid apart, revealing a heavily restrained Treble, chained from head, feet, and body, a sight that brought a frown to Bass's face. "Was it necessary to lock him down like that?" Leviathan shot back, "Do you know how many people it took to _SUBDUE _him, let alone hold him in place? It's a wonder Harpuia didn't order its destruction!"

Bass growled, but Treble yelped happily at his master and Bass waved to his companion, saying, "Time to go boy, c'mon." Leviathan spoke up, "Hello, heavy restraints, how do you think he's going to…" Treble burst into purple light and shot free, appearing next to his master, quickly licking Bass's free hand.

"He, it, that…that _THING _just teleported without a trans-server!" Leviathan shouted, but Bass wasn't paying attention, instead, he seemed to be arguing with his dog. "What do you MEAN we need to go back for the girl?" Treble barked some more before Bass replied, "She's a liability, we're better off without her." More barking from Treble before Bass said, "I don't CARE if she tried to protect my unconscious body!"

Finally, Treble collapsed on the ground and yawned, let his eyes droop, and rolled to his side. "No," Bass said, "No, hell no, get up…get up you worthless mutt, I won't stand for this!" A snore from Treble and Bass slumped and said, "Fine, we'll get the girl…AFTER my armor." The robotic wolf seemed to snap awake at this and hopped up, following close to his master's side as Bass yanked Leviathan and said, "We're leaving. Take me to my armor."

After further walking, they arrived at the armory, a weapon's store full of retrieved weapons from the Resistance, as well as Neo Arcadia's own weapons. To the side, Bass saw the familiar shape of his armor and gawked. It wasn't just repaired and polished, it was slimmer, more modern, down to his chest armor being replaced with the same jacket-like chest armor he'd seen the four Guardians wear.

"What'd you do to it," Bass mumbled. "Harpuia said Master X wanted every bit of you repaired, down to the armor, you're welcome, you know." Bass ignored Leviathan's comment and pushed her aside, saying, "Treble, watch her, if she tries to make a run for it, maul her face off." He prepared to put on the first gauntlet and he looked to Leviathan, staring at him. "Do you mind?" Leviathan blushed a little and looked away as Bass put his armor on.

A few minutes gone by, Bass rubbed his wrist, now freshly armored with his gauntlet and it shifted into a buster. "Good," he said, "Now let's get out of here." Treble barked. "Right, right, find…ugh, the dweeb's sister, then get out of here. You'd think she'd be treated like royalty here and wouldn't want to leave…come on," He yanked Leviathan again, "Take us to the Creampuff."

Leviathan automatically guessed he meant his female companion, then it occurred to her that he called her the 'dweeb's' sister. Then it occurred to her that the 'dweeb', as far as Bass was concerned, was Master X. So that meant…! "Wait," she said as they began to walk, ascending flights of stairs, "Are you trying to tell me that she's Master X's sister?" "Well don't you win the prize," Bass scoffed, annoyed that he was even saving her when she was just going to slow him down.

"Oh my gosh," Leviathan said, panic seeping into her voice, "Wait, he can't have a sister…but she's from the past, oh no, Master X is gonna have my processor for this, imprisoning his sister, his SISTER, oh no, oh no, oh no…"

Bass frowned, slowly getting annoyed by her descent into hysteria before finally shaking her and growling, "Get a grip! You're starting to really tick me off!" She hushed herself, but he could practically feel her little episode emanating from her body. He preferred the silence, and fought an urge to whistle as they climbed stair levels. As they went up in floors, jail cells changed from their small barred cells to larger, more hospitable cells.

"Here we are," Leviathan said, "I don't guess you'd just let me open the door." Bass growled and she sighed, before giving, "324BA". Bass typed in the key and the doors parted and revealed Roll and some blonde girl he'd never seen before. "Hey, ditch your friend and let's get out of here!" To Bass's order, Roll puffed her cheeks and replied, "You know, I was almost happy to see you, then you barge in, don't even say hello, and want to leave a little girl in a prison!" Roll put her hands to her hips and asked, "Just what is WRONG with you?"

Leviathan stifled a laugh as the girl in question said, "It's okay, your friend came for you, get out of here while you can…" "No way Alouette," Roll shot back as she shook her head. "Either we go together or I don't go at all."

Bass sighed and looked to his robotic wolf, telling him, "Well I tried, she doesn't want to go, we've wasted enough time doing stupid stuff that gets us nowhere, now let's do something that gets us OUT OF HERE!" Unfortunately for Bass, Treble seemed to be on Roll's side, as he trotted over to her and sat down, looking at Bass before yawning.

"Turncoat," Muttered Bass as he sighed and shrugged, saying, "I don't have all day, come on…all of you." Roll smiled and hugged Bass, who, after growling, pushed her away and yanked Leviathan, saying, "Point the way out…and let's not go for the front door."

Leviathan sighed and complied, leading Bass, Alouette, Roll, and Treble through multiple hallways, going for a back exit, Bass hoped. As they walked, Roll finally asked, "Why do you have her tied up with…electricity?" Bass turned to her and shrugged, saying, "She's insurance, I'd like to get out of here in one piece, preferably not a big piece of scrap either."

"Well cutie," Leviathan said, enjoying the scowl she swore she saw on Roll's face as she waved her hand to a large pair of doors, "Here's the way out." Wasting no time, Bass pushed the doors open and took a prideful step outside only to run into an ambush.

Quick processing skills noted forty Pantheon units, but he didn't care, he cared more about what was behind them. Tall, almost two and half times the size of the Pantheons, clad in white armor, the figure stood with a large pair of hands floating where the elbow should have connected them to the upper arm. A large burst of purple hair shot from the top of his black helmet, running past the white coattails, and to top it off, a gigantic blade of energy was sheathed at his side.

"O-O-Omega…" Leviathan managed to blurt out. "Omega, huh," Bass snorted, trying to sound unimpressed. Leviathan continued to mutter, "That means he's not too far away either…" "Who?" Asked a confused Bass.

"That would be me."

Pantheons shifted to the side and let an elderly man step forward. He was floating off the ground in an elaborate robe and wearing a yellow helmet, immersing his head in an unknown fluid.

Bass was awestruck for a second. The resemblance was uncanny and he finally said, "Doc? Wily?" The floating man laughed and replied, "That was the name of one of my ancestors, yes, perhaps the greatest mind in my family, well…second best, but my name is Dr. Weil."

Bass stepped back and a smirk appeared on Weil's face, enjoying the look on Bass's face, but it quickly went to a frown when Bass shot the comment, "The Doc actually scored? With a woman? No way, must have been a clone, no woman's _THAT _desperate…" "Bass, focus," Roll uttered as Weil chuckled. "Bass is your name, I hear you were made by my ancestor, such an advanced machine for the archaic time period you came from."

Bass crossed his arms and tilted his head up, just so he could look at Weil whilst casting his eyes downward in defiance, and replied, "Well what do you care?" "I'd like to examine your parts…after Master X is through with you, of course. I'll take you apart, piece by piece and learn all my ancestor's secrets." To Weil's remark, Bass scoffed and said, "You think I'd let you?"

Weil waved his hands to his troops and said, "We were watching you, waiting to get you out here in the open, rather than that stuffy, confining prison. We severely outnumber you. Look around, fool, there's no escape. Surrender and I promise I won't completely dismantle your little blonde friends…heh, heh, heh, AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Alouette clutched Roll, who hugged her fiercely, and Leviathan scowled. She never liked Weil and his tactics. She nudged Bass and said, "You _DO _have a hostage, you know." "Yeah," Bass said with a nod, "But I'm through with you. You can go…or stay and get scrapped like these idiots are about to be." Leviathan gasped. "You're going to let me go and fight them?"

Bass snapped his fingers and the electrical bonds on Leviathan faded away and he simply said, "Yep. Just to prove him wrong. There is an escape," He pointed forward, "Straight through them." "You're nuts," Leviathan shot, but Roll spoke up, "This is what he does. You can't talk him out of a challenge…" "That's right!" Bass shouted as he raised his fist to the sky. "Let's go, I'll turn you all into toasters!"

A smirk grew on Weil's face as he stepped back into the crowd of Pantheons. "All that advanced AI and no logic center, ah well, Omega, stand back for now, guards, subdue the Maverick."

A Pantheon extended his taser and rushed Bass, who dodged and grabbed the unit's arm, thrusting it through the head of another unit while others opened fire on him. Thinking quickly, Bass whirled the two Pantheon's in his possession in front of the barrage, and with his makeshift shield, he charged, throwing himself into the fray.

A once confident Weil saw one 200 year old Robot Master rip his entire unit apart before his very eyes. Roll covered Alouette's eyes, but wished someone would do the same for her. Leviathan, on the other hand, was running computations in her mind.

"_Based on combat data, extrapolate likelihood of defeating Bass in combat."_

**PROCESSING…64.8 PERCENT PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS**

"_My, that's awfully low…"_

**NEW DATA PARAMETER: PREVIOUS BATTLES WERE AGAINST A FATIGUED AND HEAVILY DAMAGED OPPONENT! BASED ON CURRENT DATA, SUCCESS RATE IS 52.8 PERCENT!**

"_That's right, he was damaged when he fought Fefnir and Phantom…I can't believe it, this guy doesn't slow down, he's shown technological capabilities that none of us have and he's taking on an entire squad by himself. Top that off with only a 50/50 chance of beating him? This sucks…"_

**NEW DATA PARAMETER: BASED ON USER'S EMOTIONAL STATE, SUCCESS RATE AT 38.5 PERCENT!**

"_**I-Impossible! What emotional state?"**_

**FEAR**

"_You're saying I fear him?"_

Leviathan flinched as she saw Bass rip the head off a Pantheon unit and use its body as a shield, whilst aiming its buster at the enemy and letting rapid shots fly.

**AFFIRMATIVE, UNIT LEVIATHAN SHOWS HEAVY LEVELS OF ANXIETY, RECOMMENDATION: DO NOT ENGAGE UNIT BASS IN COMBAT**

She would have continued her conversation, but she noticed Bass kicking the last of the Pantheons, or rather, what was left of it on the ground. He flexed his arm and laughed. "Gotta hand it to the dweeb, repairing my armor, I feel great. Didn't even have to use my own buster."

Weil scowled, realizing that perhaps it would be safer to retreat for now, but Omega took a step forward and a deep, resonating voice said, "Strong one. Time to fight." Weil blinked in disbelief. "That outdated mech impressed you enough to warrant a response from you?" Omega clenched his fist and once more said, "Time to fight." "You want a piece of me?" Bass asked. "Fine, as the most powerful Robot Master in existence, it's my prerogative to take upstarts like you and smash them into the dirt. LET'S GO, YOU OVERSIZED FREAK!"

Bass began to lunge forward, but stopped under Leviathan's shout of, "Stop, no! Omega's too powerful, even the four of us Guardians have trouble controlling him!" "Good," Bass replied, "I'd want a good fight, not a disappointment!" "Listen," Leviathan hissed through clenched teeth, "Dr. Weil, that bastard, he built Omega to be an unstoppable engine of destruction, countless Reploids have met their end to him, you're just gonna be a smear on his boot!"

"Stop defending your friend," Weil shouted as he nodded to Omega, "Go on, cut loose. Rend him asunder! Don't worry, I'll be able to get what I want from his scattered remains."

Omega made a growl before his thunderous steps practically threw him at Bass, who rolled out of the way of a large fist and retaliated with several buster shots that ricocheted off Omega's armor. "So it'll take more than that, huh?" Bass said to himself as he charged his buster and let a shot fly, denting Omega's shoulder.

"Strong one fights well," Omega's voice boomed. "No more games." At that, Omega gripped his blade with one powerful hand and swung with a force that sent a shockwave, careening Bass into the wall of the prison he'd just escaped from. Before Bass could recover, Omega's free hand burst forward and slammed into him, knocking him through the wall and it backed off, the hand opened, and a burst of energy fired from his palm, nearly striking Bass, who recovered and dashed away.

Bass leapt into the air and charged, delivering a kick to Omega's head and pushing back with that leg to gain distance before letting a charged buster shot fly to Omega's skull, but Omega shrugged it off and looked deeply at Bass before saying, "Strong one holds back…stop."

Bass chuckled, "So, you want me to give it my all? Fine, I'll go all-out."

"_Here it comes," _Leviathan thought, _"One of those powers, probably Fefnir's, that'll be interesting."_

"_This is too scary," _Though Alouette. _"I wish Zero was here…"_

"_Don't get killed," _Roll told the Robot Master in her thoughts, _"We need to stick together…"_

(Author Midnote: It's just me and how I think, but if you have any music akin to say…the last boss of the game powering up or something…now might be a good time to play it, for me, it's Man in the Dark from Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation.)

Bass held up his open palm and let purple light lift off it in the form of small bubbles. They began to rise faster and faster until a ball of purple light appeared. He smirked, always happy to see the energy he'd absorbed in the Eighth Wily War as Roll gasped. "He's going to do _THAT!?_"

Leviathan looked on, confused at Roll's outburst, but her attention was brought back to Bass as lightning streaked out of the ball in his hand. He crushed the orb and his entire body began to glow in a purple aura that leapt off his body.

Weil burst out laughing. "If you think your little light show will spare your life, think again, my boy, think aga-huh?" He noticed small tremors building underneath him. "Impossible, he's generating that much power? What the hell is he?"

"Come on, Treble!" Bass shouted and his wolf howled in response as it shot to the sky as a burst of purple light, only its head visible, giving it the impression of the body of a long dragon as it streaked into the sky and merged with its master. Everyone shielded their eyes as Bass cascaded a hot-white glow. As the light died down, he smirked as his wings snapped into place. His helmet was now spiked, the golden accents of his armor became purple.

To those who'd never witnessed the power of the Gospel fusion, the transformation might not look like much, but this was true power. "Okay," Bass admitted, "I didn't have to go through all that, but it gets the intimidation across. Hm?" Bass looked up to see Omega's mighty sword coming down on him. He stood his ground and held up his hand, and to everyone's surprise, caught the blade.

Frustrated, Omega put his second hand on the blade and pressed down, but the blade didn't budge until Bass practically tossed it back at him. _"That still hurt," _Bass thought, _"He's way more powerful than anything else here, I don't know how much longer I can keep up my intimidation act before they force my hand, oh well, let's make it look good."_

"Come on, ya oversized ogre, give me all you've got!" Bass lunged for Omega, the makes of a brawl that threw them into a nearby building. Baffled and frightened at the same time, Leviathan turned to Roll as laser blasts flew from holes in the walls and she asked, "What the hell IS he?" Roll sighed as she thought about the right words, "I don't know too much about him, I know he's my brother's rival, and I heard that he's powered with some experimental power source…after that, he stole a special adapter designed for my brother…you see the results, even further, he modified himself with alien energy in the eighth war, I don't know what else he's done to himself, but he's obsessed with being the best." Roll waited a few minutes before asking, "Why aren't you fighting him? You're his enemy too, right?"

Leviathan opened her mouth, but words didn't come out. She wasn't ready to admit she was scared of Bass, but luckily, the nearby building collapsing took Roll's attention off of her. "Stupid fool," Weil hissed, "Omega! Stop playing around, use your full power, the power of the Dark Elf!" Leviathan groaned as Omega roared, his white body flowing over with gold.

"Whoa," Bass said with a whistle. "Super Saiyan, kinda cliché, don't you think?" He got silence from Omega and a puzzled look from Leviathan and Dr. Weil and he sighed. "Oh of course you don't know about quality television…oh well." Bass lifted off the ground, thrusters on his back roaring to life as he boosted forward. Likewise, Omega, now golden, charged.

Before they could collide, a single voice shouted, "STOP!" as a figure teleported in-between them. Following the figure was dozens of Pantheons and the other three guardians, but Bass didn't care, he was only looking at the one in his way. "D-Dweeb?"

In Bass's path was Megaman, rather, Megaman X. Omega relaxed and sheathed his sword as Weil approached the leader of Neo Arcadia. "Master X, I assure you, Omega has the situation under control." X looked to the hole in his prison and the nearby collapsed building and merely replied, "I can see that. I was watching the battle via satellite and figured I should end this before the entire city gets leveled. You there," He looked to Bass, who scowled. "Your name is Bass, correct?"

A twitch in Bass's eye gave up his frustration. "You're telling me you don't remember me? Wait a minute…" He looked X up and down and noted the change in his armor, but was more interested in one thing. "No way! You're taller than me! This is just great…doesn't matter, I'll still flatten you!"

Rage in his eyes, Bass charged X, but Phantom quickly grabbed his arm and flung him aside. Recovering, he got to his feet, only to see a tremor underground moving his way. Fefnir's knuckle buster ripped from the ground and connected with Bass's jaw and as he flew into the air, he stabilized himself. "Prepare yourself!" Bass looked as Harpuia gained on him and slashed with his powerful beam daggers, but Bass dodged, only to run into a hail of fire from Neo Arcadian Pantheons.

Hearing a shriek from Roll and Alouette, he cursed his luck on having to play defense and bolted to the ground, seeing them cornered by a pair of Pantheons. In a flash, he had both units by the back of their heads and slammed them into the ground, pushing hard on his verniers, shredding their faces into the ground. "You certainly lack Zero's finesse for combat," X replied, "It's far more brutal." "Like I give a damn," Bass replied. "Come on! I'll take the whole lot of ya!" "Even you have to see that you're outnumbered," X calmly replied. "Surrender and you will not be harmed."

"No dice, dweeb," Bass replied as he shook his head. X sighed and merely said, "Think of your friends behind you, would you put them in harms way?" Bass crossed his arms and laughed, "They're already in harms way, oh well." Bass began charging energy as Fefnir stepped up and shouted, "Let me at him, I'll take him down for you, Master X!" X merely held his hand in the way of Fefnir, who quieted down. "Please reconsider," X stated, "Isn't it better to live?"

Weil stepped forward, trying his best to conceal a smirk as he said, "This one thinks in more barbaric terms than us, I think he'd prefer the fight. We don't need all of him, just his processor, some data might not be able to be forcibly removed, but we'll be able to get some data, that's the important thing." Bass growled and Weil continued, "Furthermore, I think it's time you did something about Leviathan. She merely stood there and let my unit be destroyed, she even spoke to him on informal terms."

Leviathan started to protest, but Weil merely spoke louder. "She's the hardest of the Guardians to control and it's probably because of her that he got loose in the first place! I'm not saying that we need to shut her down, merely…_reprogram _her."

"No way!" It wasn't Leviathan, but Fefnir. "What kind of talk is that!?" "It's true," Phantom said, "One's programming is the closest thing they have to a soul. Even so, Weil is correct, Leviathan is unpredictable, unreliable." Leviathan scoffed as Harpuia spoke up and said, "Regardless, it's Master X's decision." Leviathan looked pleadingly at X, as he replied, "Perhaps an alteration to her personality is required, but not a complete reprogramming." "NO!" Leviathan shouted, "Please Master X, reconsider!"

"You're not my brother!" Everyone whirled to see Roll, Alouette in her arms, both shedding tears. "My brother would never do this! Dr. Light would be ashamed of you!" "Doctor…Light," A puzzled X whispered. "You know about…my creator?" "Megaman, no, Rock, don't you recognize your own sister? Roll?" X shook his head, "I don't have any references to you in my databanks, I'm sorry."

Weil butted in, "Don't listen to such nonsense, sir, just let Omega dismantle all of them, Leviathan included if she resists." "N-no," Leviathan muttered, "Don't…my life…" Roll, in turn, was muttering her own, "My brother doesn't remember me…"

Bass groaned as the situation got too drama-filled for his taste. He was outnumbered, outmatched, and people around him were degrading into fits of hysteria. "Screw this," he uttered as he looked to the walls of the Neo Arcadia, "Distance set," he looked up to the sky, unbeknownst to anyone, looking at a satellite, "Coordinates locked, man I hate point-to-point…"

Bass looked up as Pantheons and the three Guardians closed on him. He backed up, motioned for Roll to come closer. "Hey dweeb," Bass barked. X looked to him and Bass replied, "Don't think this is over. Another time, another place, just like old times…maybe not, considering things. Don't get too comfortable."

X opened his mouth, but Bass aimed downwards and released a diagonal, fully charged blast at the ground, the dust kicking up, making it impossible to see. A tiny noise, a shriek, was heard, and as the dust cleared, nothing. Bass, Roll, Alouette, even Leviathan, they were all gone.

"Spread out, search the city, find them," Harpuia ordered the troops, who quickly obeyed. Weil chuckled, "Built-in teleporter, the power to take on the abilities of his enemy, fusion, an unstoppable will for combat, and two-hundred years our elder, marvelous."

Only choice words escaped X's lips. "Bass, you…know me?"

----------

Bass growled when he realized he was further IN the city. His plan was to teleport straight out of it, several miles from the city walls, but, it was a point-to-point transfer. This meant that rather than any real coordinates verified by a topographical program, he'd used his own judgment, then he piggybacked a satellite and tried to teleport, unfortunately, the concept isn't always reliable and this time, he just put himself further in enemy lines.

They'd managed to take shelter in what he hoped was an abandoned warehouse and he'd released his fusion with Treble. He'd made sure the area was relatively secure and then he'd finally taken the time to sit down, only to have his group sit down around him and fall asleep. Due to the stress, he couldn't really blame them, but as he looked down on them, he wondered why he didn't just ditch them, after all, they were just going to slow him down.

His gaze wandered to Leviathan, tears drying on her face as she slept peacefully against Bass's shoulder. "Why the hell did I save _YOU_?" He only got a soft coo in Leviathan's sleep and he sighed. It was probably just a moment of relation. Weil reminded him so much of Wily, and he'd never want anyone touching his programming. It was a moment of sorrow, pity, weakness. He'd have to snap out of it, weakness will just get him killed.

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Ending Notes: Well there's the next chapter, hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter to come…eventually. By the by, treat the story as an alternate universe since even though I loved the four games, I deviated greatly for my own purposes. Let me know what you think of it! Bad, good, wave hello, just let me know it's interesting!


	4. Chapter 4

Some Author's Notes: Well welcome to the next chapter, I don't know what compelled me to type it so fast, not much to say, just that I don't own these characters, that's all Capcom, no one better sue me, so other than that, enjoy the chapter!

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Night in Neo Arcadia brought a single, silent transport. As the white light died down, he stood up. Red adorning his armor over a black jumpsuit, he tapped his helmet and calmly replied, "I'm in." "Good, it looks like the stealth trans-server worked, are you okay, Zero?" "Yes, no problems, Ciel." "Standby, we'll bring you back before you're spotted." "Negative, I see that receiving dish Elpizo was talking about. I can take care of that mission before returning." "Okay, but be careful, Zero." "Roger that."

Zero dashed silently through an empty street before pressing his body behind a wall as a few Pantheons marched by. He'd rather not enter unnecessary combat, avoiding them was preferable, and, due to Neo Arcadia's martial law, there weren't any civilians on the streets. As he prepared to leave his building's cover, he saw several more units. _"That's weird," _he thought to himself. _"I've been through here before, there aren't this many patrols, what's going on?" _

Finally seeing an opening, Zero made haste and covered the distance to a large receiving dish, towering in the sky. To get to it, he'd have to elevate, via the ladder, but spying a Pantheon on guard, he knew what had to happen first. He rushed and the Pantheon jumped, reporting, "This is unit 12, intru-" that was as far as he got before Zero quickly cleaved him in twain, both parts neatly falling to the ground with a disturbingly quiet explosion that left no evidence.

(Author's Midnote: You've played these games, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Zero bursts in, quick slash, they fall in half, WAY too quiet explosion, no shrapnel, nothing, as if they're programmed to die clean for everyone's benefit…)

Zero intercepted a transmission. "Unit 12, report, repeat last transmission! Unit 12? Respond!" Zero tapped his helmet and a click in his mouth was heard as his voice modulated to that of a Pantheon and he replied, "Unit 12, false alarm, sorry." He heard an exasperated sigh before, "Unit 12, I know this Bass guy has us all on edge, but try to keep from jumping at cats, okay?" "Roger that." The transmission ended and Zero could only think of one thing, _"Who is Bass?"_

After climbing the ladder, he affixed a tiny device on the dish before sliding back down. He tapped his helmet, "This is Zero, mission complete." Ciel's relieved voice came on and said, "Thank goodness, standby, we're bringing you back."

Zero stood stoic as he was enveloped in light. Before he knew it, he was back at the Resistance Base, staring Ciel and Elpizo in the face. Elpizo was the first to speak up, "Good work, Zero, now we can hack into their transmission feeds, this will give us a big advantage." Zero didn't reply, so Ciel quietly asked, "Is everything okay?"

Zero shook his head and replied, "No, something's not right. There were way too many Pantheons in the streets and I only counted one guard at the dish. They're looking for something…someone…Bass…"

----------

Roll sighed to herself as another day rolled by while she was hiding in some warehouse, trapped in a time period she knew nothing about. She didn't know which was worse, the fact that her own brother didn't know her anymore or the fact that the only person she could really depend on spent his life trying to kill said brother of hers.

She spotted Alouette, sitting by herself, humming a tune and she smiled. No matter the situation, Roll would just have to stay strong, at least for Alouette's sake, if not her own. Then she looked to Leviathan, sitting in the corner and Roll frowned. There was just something about her that Roll didn't like. Why'd Bass save her anyways? Sure, it was the right thing to do, but Bass doesn't DO the right thing in the first place unless someone forces him.

It was then that Bass entered and a previously sleeping Treble got up to greet his master before poking his nose in a sack Bass was carrying. He tossed it to Roll before saying, "I got us something to eat. Roll looked in the bag before looking back at Bass and hissing, "You STOLE this?" Bass shrugged and replied, "No, of course not. I calmly walked in the store and said 'Hey, I'm a terrorist as far as your city is concerned. I'm just gonna buy a few things with the money I don't have and let you go on your way.' OF COURSE I STOLE IT!"

Roll puffed her cheeks before berating him. "You can't just go around making yourself more of a nuisance!" Bass growled before replying, "Oh of course not! I'm already considered a dangerous, slightly psychopathic killer as far as this stupid city is concerned! I'm sure they'll add "small-time-theft" to the things I'm charged with if they catch me, then BAM, they'll lock my parts away in prison for life after I get dismantled by Weil!"

Roll glared daggers at him before he snatched the bag of food away and replied, "If you don't like it, don't eat it!" Roll snatched it back before a low, "At least Alouette needs to eat!" But as she looked to the girl in question, she saw tears flowing down her cheeks and she quickly rushed to the girl's aide. "See," Roll said, "All this shouting made her cry!" Bass scoffed, "Don't look at me, you're half the problem too, ya know," and he turned away and left.

"OH! I just can't stand that boy!" Roll shouted. "How are we going to survive if we can't even be civil?"

Now alone on the roof of the warehouse, Bass removed his helmet and fell back, choosing to lay there for a while, grumbling to himself about his situation. It was all ticking him off, all at once and he saw no relief in sight. If it wouldn't give away his location, he'd be letting buster shots fly in every direction.

"H-Hey." Bass sat up and whirled around to see Leviathan standing by the entrance to the roof. A combination of a defeated look and one of confusion on her face, she nervously rubber her shoulder as she approached the Robot Master. "Whaddya want?" Bass quickly barked, a tone that made the girl flinch. He quickly gave an unfelt apology and she moved closer to him and sat down beside him before asking, "Why did you help me back there?"

"Hm?" Bass perked an eyebrow as he thought back to the situation. True, he'd gotten Leviathan out of that situation, but he'd hardly call it saving her, if anything, life would just be tougher on her. Still, he guessed it beat having your personality altered. Truth be told, he didn't trust Wily and had core parts of his programming backed up in multiple locations, buried under his own subroutines, in the capsule he slept in, even in Treble in the event of a Gospel fusion, but Leviathan didn't have that kind of luxury, thanks to being far too trusting of Megaman, or X, or whatever he wanted to call himself nowadays.

"I still can't believe the dweeb's taller than me," He muttered, getting a puzzled look from Leviathan, but he shook his head before replying, "I don't know why I saved you. Probably because Weil seems like as big an asshole as my creator, who, by the way, is totally dead if I ever get back to my time period." "Well," Leviathan softly said, "For what it's worth, thank you. I appreciate it, still being me. I can't believe Master X was going to reprogram me…"

Bass felt his eye twitch as he said, "Look, do you still think you follow that jerk?" "Wh-What?" came the reply. Bass looked Leviathan in the eyes. "Do you still think you follow Megaman?" Leviathan slumped her shoulders and said, "I guess not." "Then stop calling him your 'master', it's ticking me off. I never called my creator my 'master' or 'father', just 'crazy old man' or 'eyesore', and you have to admit, the dweeb's on a power trip and needs to get kicked off his high horse," Bass smirked, "Something I plan to do, personally."

Leviathan sighed, "What do I do now that Ma-I mean X considers me defective?" Bass growled. "You really are stupid, aren't you?" "Excuse me?" Leviathan shot back. "You act like some stupid puppet that just got its strings cut. You're capable of sentient thought, use it, think for yourself, because no one's gonna do it for you, not if you want to live through life. So what are you gonna do?"

Silence reigning for the moment, Leviathan finally replied, "I guess…I'll live, stick with you, if…that's okay?" Bass laughed and said, "Fine, just don't get in my way." Leviathan smiled for the first time in a while and kissed Bass's cheek and left before he could reply, taking pleasure in making him take a pause.

Now alone, Bass reasoned that he was showing weakness again, but it yielded him affection, something that was utterly puzzling. He definitely didn't get this from Wily, thank God, but for that matter, this was really the first time he was getting it at all. Was it genuine? How could he even tell with nothing to compare it to? Should he just distance himself from the girl for now? It was getting confusing, but a telltale whistle brought his mind back to the present.

"You're doing well for yourself, cute girl by the way, didn't think you had it in you."

Bass hopped to his feet and whirled around, his red eyes lighting up with anger as he aimed his buster at the figure. That flowing, yellow scarf, those dark shades over his red helmet, that gray jumpsuit, so like his own. "Protoman," Bass barked, "How the hell did you get here!?"

Protoman, standing on the edge of the roof, shield to his back, put his hands up in defense and said, "Easy, I'm not your enemy." "Like hell you aren't, you're almost as bad as the dweeb! Answer my damn question!" Protoman stepped down and sat down, saying, "Well not too long after Wily blasted you and Roll, Mega went into a bit of depression and Wily took the time to try and blast him into oblivion. I pushed him away and tried to defend myself with my shield…didn't work. I wound up here, found evidence of a battle outside the castle, of course an endless desert isn't my thing, so I went back in. Took a while, but I stumbled onto your Doc's panic room, found as much info as I could, a certain SOMEONE hit a killswitch and fried most of everything, learned you were still alive, you and my sister, and made my way to the city. Every robot here's just so anal, yeesh, I had to sneak in, been trying to find you."

Bass lowered his buster and crossed his arms. "Well you found me, congratulations, now get lost." Protoman gave a half-smile before asking, "Can't I at least say hi to my sister?" "Do whatever," Bass huffed, "just don't get too comfortable."

Protoman laughed a little before heading down into the building and Bass mumbled to himself, "Just great…the dweeb's sister AND his older brother, what's next, that damn head with legs? The stupid bird? I don't need this…"

Downstairs, in the warehouse, none of the girls inside were expecting a new visitor, but as Roll met his gaze and his familiar, confident smile, she shouted for joy and gave her brother a large hug. "Easy now, Roll," Protoman said as he patted her back, "I'm glad to see you too."

A few minutes were spent on Roll and Protoman filling each other in on their respective situations, before Roll insisted that he stay with her and Bass and that she wouldn't take no for an answer. Then, after offering him some ill-gotten bread, he laughed a bit, was introduced to Leviathan and Alouette, and met eyes again with Bass, before Bass locked eyes with Roll and something in her eyes made Bass sigh yet again.

"_Damn," _Bass thought, _"Knew I shouldn't have let them see each other, now I won't be able to get rid of him. Huh? Do I hear gunshots?" _Bass listened, but couldn't hear anything over Roll and Protoman, so he quickly barked, "Shut up for a second, I'm trying to hear something!" They got quiet, but Roll still shot Bass a scowl, but he didn't care, he was now sure of it, there was a firefight outside.

Bass rushed outside, laying low be damned. If there was some action going on, he wanted to be part of it, if only to get his mind off his situation. As he reached the outdoors, he saw several Pantheons fighting against green-clad soldiers led by a single person, a man, well Bass thought he was a man, standing tall, with long, blonde hair and clad in…pink?

A soldier fell back on the ground, riddled with bullet wounds as another turned to the pink one and shouted, "Sir, we're losing ground, we need reinforcements! Where's Zero?!" The pink one barked back, "We can't always rely on him to do our work for us, you know this!"

"Feh," Bass spat, he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, waiting for the pathetic group to get wiped out before he got in the way. It makes sense to only have bullets coming at you from one direction, after all. "They're the resistance," Protoman said, joining Bass. "I know they don't look like much, but they're your best bet if you want to get out of this city."

"Look at them," Bass shot, "They can't even hold their own against the dweeb's stupid grunts." "That's why they need our help," Protoman remarked before hoisting his shield and entering the fray. "Stupid idiot," Bass said out of Protoman's earshot, "Go ahead and get yourself killed…"

One of the Resistance members turned to their leader, saying, "Commander Elpizo, save yourself!" The pink one, now known as Elpizo, said, "I refuse to abandon my men, we'll fight together, we'll die together!" As he finished his words, an incoming hail of fire prepared to take him down, but a sturdy, red shield came to his defense.

"You've got a good heart, Mister Commander, but you should really keep your mind on survival, war isn't won by getting killed." Elpizo looked up and stammered, "Wh-Wh-Who are you?" "Name's Protoman, call me reinforcements. It's not much, but try to make your way to that warehouse over there, it'll be a break from the bullets." Elpizo replied, "We can't make a move, we're stuck here, at least while they're bearing down on us like this!"

A screaming shot of plasma reduced two Pantheons to dust as Bass calmly replied, "Well we'll see just how they act when someone's bearing down on THEM instead. Hey, Protoman, I'm no good at the 'defense' game, so you get them out of here. I'll handle this." Elpizo looked to Protoman, who nodded at Bass, and quickly shouted, "Are you serious!? One reploid against a horde of Pantheons? He's no Zero, that's suicide!"

Bass growled as his eye twitched, he was being compared to that guy again, some guy he didn't even know. First by Fefnir, then by the dweeb, now by some guy he'd gone out of his way to save. "You, watch," Bass ordered as he threw himself once more into the fodder units of X's army. Protoman chuckled, "You got him madder than he already was, good work."

Elpizo was at a loss for words, but as a commander, composed himself, shouting, "All hands, fall back! Fall back to that warehouse!" He pointed the way and waited for his few surviving men to make it before running to it himself, keeping his head outside to watch the display of carnage Bass was arranging. "Who is that," he whispered. "That'd be Bass," Protoman replied, "Don't worry, he's always pissed off." "I…I can see that," Elpizo replied as half of a Pantheon skidded by.

Elpizo looked to his wounded men and quickly tapped his ear, saying, "This is Elpizo, we require immediate teleport. Lock onto the active IDCs except for mine and bring 'em back, on the double. Have medical standing by." "Roger," said the voice of an operator before Elpizo's battered men quickly vanished.

Bass entered the warehouse, a cross look on his face as he barked to Elpizo, "Hey, pink boy, I told you to sit and watch, what'd you do, you walked off. How the hell do you win a war if you can't even follow orders?" Elpizo didn't know how to reply to the rude remark, but luckily for him, Roll spoke up and said, "Please, manners, come on, Bass."

Elpizo blinked a few times. "This is Bass? The Neo Arcadian network is buzzing with all sorts of warnings about you!" "Good, I'm popular," Bass halfheartedly commented. "My name is Elpizo, thank you for your assistance." The group nodded and Roll spoke up, "I'm Roll, you've met Bass and Protoman, where is…oh shoot, she's not here, well this is Alouette."

Elpizo's eyes lit up, "Ah yes, Alouette, Ciel and Zero have been very worried about you, well Ciel has, it's hard to tell with Zero, he only keeps that…emotionless face. You'll have to stick close to base, don't wander off again" Bass looked off and said, "She HAS been sticking close to me." "Not you," Elpizo retorted, "I meant the Resistance Base."

"Speaking of that," Protoman said, "We'd like to go with you, if you don't mind." "Of course," Elpizo replied, but Bass walked off, heading for the roof. "Where are you going," Elpizo questioned. Bass waved his hand indignantly while replying, "We're missing a member."

On the roof, Bass found Leviathan, looking down on the current scene of destruction Bass caused. "You sure aren't subtle, you know?" Leviathan asked. Bass chuckled before agreeing with her. "We're going to the Resistance Base," Bass told her. "It's not safe here anymore, they'll be coming soon with more troops." "I know," She replied, "But it's not like I can just go with the Resistance, not after being their enemy for so long, I guess…it was stupid of me to think I could run away. Maybe if I go back, Master X will just tweak my personality and not shut me down."

Bass sighed before barking, "You're really a stupid girl, do you know that?" "Huh?" Leviathan replied in surprise. "We just got over the whole 'live for yourself, think for yourself' deal and look, you're already calling him '_MASTER_' again, it makes me sick! You said you'd stick with me, well do so, and I won't let anything happen to you at that base, but if you go back to the dweeb and he messes with your programming, you won't be the same girl I knew and I won't hesitate to send you to the scrap pile if we ever meet in battle."

Leviathan could only blink at his statement before realizing this is about the only way he knows how to sound sincere. In his own…slightly deranged way, he apparently cared for her, so she smiled and took his arm, nodding and saying, "Okay, let's go."

As the two walked downstairs, Roll turned a slight tinge of red at Leviathan hanging on Bass's arm, but she quickly turned away and rubbed her cheeks, trying to play it off as Bass said, "Let's go."

Elpizo's mouth dropped open as he pointed to the pair. "That's Leviathan! Fairy Leviathan! _SHE'S _your other member!?" "You got a problem with that," Bass asked, his eyes beginning to glow a piercing red. Elpizo felt Bass's anger and it made him a little weak in the knees, but he didn't back down, he stood his ground and replied, "I won't let her into my base!" "Well," Bass shot back, "She doesn't go, I don't go." He quickly looked at Treble and said, "And I don't care what you say, as much as I want to leave this damn city, I'm not ditching her."

Roll and Protoman were speechless before Protoman finally said, "Are…you being kind?" Bass shrugged and said, "Don't look too much into it or I'll feed your shield to you." Protoman smiled and said, "Any future comments are already retracted."

Elpizo couldn't believe his situation. Could he just let one of the Four Guardians into his base? It just couldn't happen. He felt a tug on his jacket and looked down to Alouette, the girl in question quietly saying, "Bass saved her from Weil and X, I don't think she's the enemy." Elpizo looked around, seeing the same general look of concern for Leviathan and he conceded. "It looks like I don't have any choice. Very well." He tapped his ear again, "This is Elpizo, prepare for wide teleport, six foot beam." "Understood," came the reply as Elpizo motioned for everyone to get near him. They gathered around and Leviathan mouthed the words, "Thank you," to Bass before they were caught in a burst of light.

As the light died down, they were greeted by numerous soldiers, all pointing their weapons at Leviathan. "Drop them or I drop you," Bass coldly replied, but they stood their ground until Elpizo spoke up, "Stand down men. That's an order. Just…keep her out of any restricted areas."

As the soldiers did as they were told, Ciel entered and happily shouted, "Alouette!" before the two rushed and hugged each other tightly. "I was so worried about you," Ciel murmured to the girl as she shed tears of joy. "I'm okay, Ms. Ciel," Alouette replied, "It's all thanks to Bass and Roll." Treble barked and Alouette smiled before saying, "And Treble, he helped a lot too."

"Where is Zero," Elpizo asked. "He's getting checked out by Cerveau, his mission was tough," Ciel replied, "What happened, by the way?" Elpizo sighed and said, "We thought we'd hacked into the Information Hub, thanks to the secondary receiver Zero installed on the dish, but they must have found out and given us false information. We were heading to destroy their main production facility, but before we knew it, we were in an ambush."

"Pathetic," Bass scoffed as he heard the story. "I should have let you guys get wiped out…" "Then why did you save us," Elpizo retorted. "I dunno, I guess I just REALLY wanted to get out of that damn city." Ciel looked to Bass and said, "Thank you," with such sincerity and compassion that he flinched, but Zero entered.

"Zero!" Alouette shouted as she hugged the red reploid, who put a hand to her back and said, "I'm glad you're safe." Alouette pointed, "They kept me safe." Zero looked to them and said, "Thank you." He tensed when he noticed Leviathan, but Elpizo waved him down.

It was now that Bass was looking Zero up and down, the so-called superior machine, while Protoman looked around and whistled. He looked to Zero, Ciel, Elpizo, Roll, Alouette, and one of the operators in the background and could only say, "What's with all the blondes?"

Everyone stopped and realized a coincidence that no one had paid attention to before and soon laughter filled the room, all save for Bass and Zero. Finally Bass spoke up. "I know who the hell you are! You're that _STUPID _girly bot the Doc was working on!" "What?" Zero asked, confused. "Oh this is too great," Bass said, "I told him I'd crush you, now I finally get that chance! Say your prayers!"

Bass leapt back and revealed his buster, a gasp escaping from most as Zero calmly drew his saber. "If you want a fight, very well, but I don't intend on death today." "Stupid boy," Roll hissed as Leviathan and the others looked on, shocked, before Elpizo shouted, "That's enough! If you want to kill yourselves, fine, but not in my command center!"

"Tch," was the only noise Bass made as he stood down. "You're lucky, little brother. Just remember, watch your back."

Everyone sighed in relief as Bass and Zero stood down, and before long, Roll and Protoman were giving their situation, explaining everything the best they could, before Leviathan told them how she wound up with Bass and company. Bass, however, was eyeing Zero, refusing to let him out of his sight.

Roll finished with, "And now Mega doesn't even remember me…" "Well," Protoman started, "I don't know how to best tell you this, but that's not Rock." Now Bass looked up as Protoman continued. "Megaman X was Dr. Light's next-generation model." "He was going to…replace Mega?" Roll was confused and a little angry. "No, no," Protoman said, "There was nothing wrong with Megaman, he made X…because of me. My generator is flawed. It's breaking down and there's nothing Dr. Light could do about it. Heh, hurts quite a bit, but I'm used to it. Just…eventually I'll shut down one day and poof, that'll be it, no more Protoman. Dr. Light made X, he tried to make a new robot that wouldn't have such problems…"

"You're…dieing?" Roll squeaked. "Yeah," Protoman solemnly replied. Roll burst out into tears before Elpizo said, "Our technology is more advanced, we could fix you." "That'd be nice," Protoman said with a laugh, but Bass was beginning to fume. "You mean to tell me that there's a dweeb…and then there's a dweeb 2.0?"

"I hate to say this," Ciel said, "But the current X is a copy, one that I made. X vanished some time ago, and we were facing a crisis, so I built him, but he just labeled all reploids as Mavericks, started destroying them after we had an energy crisis." Bass felt the representation of a bulging nerve on his forehead as he said, "…What?"

"Actually, I defeated Copy X," Zero stated. "This is a new one, made by Dr. Weil. He had some speech problems at one time, but it looks like he's fixed." Protoman spoke up, "Why would he build X and serve him?" "Weil is after his own goals," Elpizo said, "It's easier for him to work behind the scenes while X leads."

"So you mean to tell me, the dweeb got rebuilt not once, not twice, but THREE FUCKING TIMES!?" "Bass," hissed Roll, "Language!" She pointed to Alouette. "I don't fucking care!" He shouted. "The dweeb gets rebuilt multiple times, gets a city, an ARMY that damn LOOKS like him, and what do I get? NOTHING! ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY NOTHING! They don't even remember me in history! ME! The most powerful Robot Master in existence and NOT EVEN A DAMN FOOTNOTE IN HISTORY! WILY gets recognized more than I do, but oh, him," He jabbed a finger at Zero, "From all the data I got on him in the castle a while back, HE'S FUCKING FAMOUS! Screw this, I'm out of here. Come on, Treble."

Bass turned around to walk off, leaving a confused and distraught Leviathan who thought they'd be sticking together. Roll blocked his path. "What about us, we need you still." "Out of the way," Bass said as he pushed her aside, "You're already safe in the Resistance Base, I don't see a reason for me to tag around anymore."

As he walked away to the exit, guards blocked his path, but Elpizo said, "Let him go, you couldn't stop him anyways." Bass merely pushed past them and left.

Now outside, endless desert in front of him, Bass picked a direction and started walking before finally stopping near a rock formation. "Stupid history, stupid Wily, STUPID EVERYTHING! ARGH! I can't take this!" Bass began pulsing with charged energy as he let buster shots fly in all directions. "I HATE EVERYTHING HERE!" Treble whined as he walked a little ways from his currently rampant master.

Just as he was in the middle of his rant, a tiny orb of golden light appeared before him before it expanded into the form of X in a blue robe. "Great," barked Bass, "Now I'm HALLUCINATING about him too!" "I'm not a hallucination. I'm X, the real one." "Like I care," Bass shot back, "Just leave me alone." "Please, I beg you, help Zero."

"What?" Bass looked to his hallucination. "He's strong, but he needs help. He needs your strength, please, for this world to survive." "Have you _SEEN _this world," Bass asked, "Looks like it's pretty dead already to me." X looked to Bass, pleading in his eyes. "Please, I…I used to be able to help Zero, but not anymore, it's getting harder and harder to appear, I need your help." Bass crossed his arms and laughed. "Dweeb 2.0 asking for my help, this is too rich." X began to fizzle, his image distorted, slowly fading away, his last words, "Please, help Zero."

As X's image faded away, Bass saw Alouette standing where X used to be. "Did you see any of that," Bass asked, but she shook her head. "Damn, it was a hallucination, all this sun isn't good, even for a Robot Master. What the hell are you even doing out here anyways?" "Miss Roll and Miss Leviathan are very sad, I want them happy, so I went to find you. Please, won't you come back?"

Bass could feel it, he was getting used to the sensation, those moments of weakness, so it didn't surprise him when he took her hand and sighed before saying, "Lead the way back."

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Ending Notes: That's Chapter 4, up a lot faster than I thought it'd be. I hope you enjoyed it, I took some info from Megaman: The Power Fighters (I _THINK _that's the right game) and don't mind Bass's foul language…he's Bass.

Now as far as it goes, I like reviews, they let me know if I'm doing my job right or not. One review always keeps the story going, and it might be me feeling selfish, but five reviews and I'll start the next chapter tonight.


	5. Chapter 5

Some Author's Notes: This is going pretty well I think. I'd like to thank everyone who's given me reviews, they really mean a lot to me. Oh, and due to my need of new 'boss enemies' and my lack of creativity at the moment, I have decided to use mecha from the Super Robot Taisen game series. I hope no one minds.

Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own any Megaman characters, it's all Capcom.

Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own any Super Robot Taisen characters, it's all Banpresto.

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Bass sat atop the Resistance Base, looking up to a starlit sky. "Huh," he said, "Never could see them that well before. I guess that's one upside to a dead world, no pollution blocking the stars."

"Megaman," he said to himself, "We'll never settle our score. I just hope you didn't get scrapped by anyone. I don't care how far in time I am, that honor's still mine. You hear me, dweeb?" He sighed, "Of course you don't."

"Hey, there you are."

Bass looked over his shoulder and eyed Roll. The girl had a look of concern on her face as she rubbed her arm nervously. "I couldn't find you anywhere, I was afraid you'd run off again." Bass smirked as he replied, "You won't get rid of me that easily."

Roll moved closer to Bass, then closer still before saying, "I…I wouldn't want to get rid of you. Bass…you…you and Protoman, you're the only ones like me. The only ones that know what the past was like…their past, our present." She looked down, "Our past now. Bass, I…I don't want to lose either of you, you're…you're all I have."

"What?" A confused Bass asked before he noticed a single tear rolling down Roll's cheek. Soon more fell and she began to sob, letting herself fall on Bass, who, out of instinct caught her. The girl now burying her face in his shoulder, he asked, "Are you…crying? You…can cry?"

She looked him in the eyes, "What…what kind of question is that? You can't cry?" "I…" Bass froze, partly embarrassed that Roll had something he didn't. Finally he shot back with, "Of course I can't cry, why would I have something as useless as a fluid leak? Tch, it's only weakness, anyways."

Roll wiped a tear from her eye before hugging Bass, "Hey, get…get off me!" Bass shouted, but she held on. "Bass, it's an emotion, sorrow, it's supposed to bring tears. It's not weakness, I can't believe Wily didn't even make you capable of crying." Bass looked away, saying, "I was made for war, not for drama."

Roll could feel her tears coming back, not for herself anymore, but for Bass. She tried to hold them in, biting her lower lip, but Bass sighed and surprised her. One, by putting an arm around her, two, by saying, "Just let it all out."

If anyone had ever told Roll that she'd be spending a night in the arms of her brother's rival, a Robot Master "As Vain As A Peacock" as his data card listed, she'd think that person was nuts. If that same person told her she'd feel safe and secure in those arms, she'd have the poor person committed. If that person said she'd never want this moment, this one, solitary moment of affection, to end, she'd have slapped him silly. But here she was, in that situation.

"Bass?"

"Yeah?"

"Can…we stay like this for a while?"

"Yeah, why not?"

Weakness again, was he malfunctioning, or could it be something else? Could all this time away from the hostilities of his previous life, fighting Megaman, keeping up with Wily, constantly having to prove his power to new foes; could it all be because of a new social environment?

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"There," Cerveau said as Protoman's systems rebooted. "It was tricky, but I managed to repair the damage to your internal generator. I upgraded it too, you should enjoy a little power boost, but ease into it, don't force yourself or you'll break something."

Protoman nodded and said, "Thank you. I hate to pester you after such a good job, but do you think you know a way to get me, my sister…and even Bass home?" Cerveau wiped some sweat from his brow before replying, "Sorry, I honestly wouldn't know where to begin. This is two-hundred years in the future as far as you're concerned, and we still don't believe in time travel, but here you are, living proof."

"Well," Protoman hopped up and stretched, "Don't fry a nerve trying to figure it out. Everything happens for a reason. Say, where's my shield?" Cerveau chuckled to himself and said, "I fixed that too. I call it the Ballistic Shield." Cerveau reached under a workbench and produced a large, red shield with smoothed edges with several compartments on the front, then said, "Catch," as he tossed it to Protoman.

As Protoman grabbed it, he remarked, "Whoa, it's light, way light!" "I had to make it light," Cerveau replied, "It has an anti-grav unit installed, just to lighten the load. Don't worry, it's durable, way more than it used to be." Protoman was just beginning to wonder what Cerveau did to his trusted weapon, when the scientist put on a white glove with machinery affixed to it, picked up a metal ball, and tossed it to Protoman.

Catching it as easily as he caught the shield, he wasn't prepared for the weight of the ball and was brought to the ground. "What the hell!?" "They're heavy claymores. Tough, high density balls, no explosives or anything, had to keep it cost effective. Look at the handle of your shield. You'll see two buttons, one primes the shield, one launches the claymores at the enemy. Be careful, you've only got two chances before it runs out of ammo."

"G-got it," Protoman stammered as he finally lifted the metal ball. "I'm sure I can put this to good use.

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Alouette smiled as she sat on top of Treble, the wolf easily hefting her weight as it happily trotted along. Treble, for once, was enjoying himself. There was no immediate threat from Megaman, no worries that Wily would reprogram him or Bass, and most importantly, he and his master had the chance to make friends.

It had always been awkward for the wolf. He was the perfect companion for Bass, and for the longest time, Bass felt like that was the only companion he needed. So, Treble performed his job admirably. He rebuked all but his master, slowly watching Bass grow colder and angrier.

He had watched as his master became obsessed with proving he was the ultimate robotic design. He had watched as his master became consumed with hatred. He had watched as his master began to turn against his master. Years of antisocialism had welcomed his master and all he had done was watch.

Now, in a future where not even Bass could honestly boast to be the most powerful and be serious about it, it seemed he was finally calming down. He was letting people approach him, he was standing up for others, and he was actually putting the needs of others over his own.

To some, it might not have seemed like much, but when they were held captive, deep down, Treble knew that if Bass really wanted, he could have left without Roll or her companion, the sweet girl on his back. Deep down, he knew that if it had come to that, Treble would have performed his duty and gone with the Robot Master, but Bass had helped them. As Treble thought back to their encounter with X, Bass had even set aside his personal vendetta to save those around him.

This place, this time, it might be frustrating, but it's good for Bass. That meant it was good for Treble. Though, it didn't hurt that Alouette was good at scratching behind the ears.

As the duo entered the command room of the base, preparing to greet Ciel, they stopped when they saw Elpizo and the female scientist in question deep in conversation.

"I don't like it," Elpizo said as he crossed his arms, "We already rely too much on Zero as it is. Now you want me to put my faith in strangers from the past and one of X's guardians?"

"_FORMER _guardian," Ciel stated, "And yes, I want you to put your faith in them, if they'll help. Zero's already done so much for us, and as much as I hate to put them in the situation, you know how much we'd benefit from it. At least…Zero wouldn't always be on his own, someone…would watch his back. I'd be…glad for that. I could worry just a little less."

Elpizo sighed. "Ciel, we all know how you feel about Zero. Still, think about it. Do you honestly think Leviathan's loyalties will lie with us? For that matter, consider Bass. Power aside, he has a personal grudge against X that will get others hurt. Oh, and let's not forget, he's already exhibited homicidal tendencies towards Zero. To top it off, Protoman, and we don't know anything about him."

"Please, Elpizo, give them a chance. Give yourself a chance, a chance to trust them. I have faith that it will work out." As Ciel finished her comment, Elpizo scoffed before replying, "If only your _faith _could win the war."

Not wanting to hear more, Treble and Alouette exited as quietly as they had entered.

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Leviathan looked at her new quarters. There was nothing amazing about them, other than the fact that she had them to herself. Just a drab room with paint chipping off, a bed, a light fixture, and that was about it. She sighed, after all, she could be doing a lot worse. She could still be in Neo Arcadia, with untold hands messing with her CPU, altering her personality, or worse, they could be _WEIL'S _hands.

Shuddering at the thought, she almost didn't hear a knock at her door. Answering it, she had to admit, she was surprised to see Zero. "Come to confess your deep love for me in the middle of the night and seek my passionate love?" She smiled brightly, but not even she could smile after Zero's quick, cold reply of, "No."

"Then just what ARE you doing here?" She inquired. "I want to know what you're doing here," he answered. Leviathan leaned in his face and smiled before replying, "You know the story, what's left to tell?"

Zero's face tightened. Any hint of emotion, no matter how little, utterly vanished as he steely replied, "I heard the story, now make me believe it."

Leviathan leaned against her doorframe and said, "Look, I don't know, okay? I mean…I only came because Bass wanted me to. I mean look where I am! No one trusts me here and I don't blame them! How many of their friends have I killed, or ordered to be killed? How many times did I take pride in the hunt? And for what? A fake X? A city of scared, close-minded idiots? I was living a lie. Fefnir, Harpuia, Phantom, they're all living that lie too."

Zero opened his mouth, prepared to say something, when she continued. "I'm lost, okay? I've been a soldier all my life, following orders like a good, little girl. Then I get flung in a situation where I'm being PUNISHED for the way that I am and suddenly, I get it. I get the whole 'maverick' thing. There's no such thing. Reploids have free will. We're no different or better off than the humans. They're lazy, arrogant, and violent, and we're just like them, but no one calls them defective."

The tears started to flow down her cheeks as she continued. "What do I do, Zero? How do I just…move on with my life?" "Live for yourself, find something you do believe in." As Leviathan stared at Zero, soaking in his comment, she chuckled. "You and Bass are so alike, did you know that?"

Zero didn't know how to reply at first, but found the words. "Well we do have the same creator, I would assume we'd share similarities." "No," Leviathan began with a smile, "I meant your personalities. You two are from completely different worlds, yet the way you two think is surprisingly uniform. Granted, you're Mister 'I Can Live Without Emotions' and he's apparently permanently pissed, but you've both probably have a lot of the same outlooks on life."

Zero straightened before dryly replying, "He wants to kill me." "I said you two share a lot of the same outlooks, not all of them.

----------

Morning brought an emergency scramble. Troops rushed to the command center as klaxons blared. In mere moments, the room was packed with resistance soldiers, and Bass had to force his way to the front of the crowd.

"At 0600," Elpizo began, "We lost contact with Outpost 12. At the same time, we registered a massive energy buildup, followed with a prolonged magnitude 4 tremor. At 0650, we lost Outpost 8 with the same results. This time, we were able to catch footage."

Elpizo pointed to a display that brought up an image of the outpost in question. After a few moments, a burst of light heralded the way for a stream of red energy descending from the heavens. Static followed, then silence.

Ciel took over. "Our conclusion," she began, "Is that Neo Arcadia has fielded a satellite with incredible destructive potential. Numerous topographical satellites must be feeding an uplink station with the location of abnormal energy readings. After that, the uplink station transmits the data to the satellite and it fires."

Just then, an operator spoke up. "We just lost Outpost 3."

Murmuring from the crowd of soldiers was snuffed out by Elpizo's statement. "It's only a matter of time before they find us, so prepare for emergency evacuation!"

More murmuring began, but Bass scoffed. "Tch, you're running away? To where? Where, on this rotten ball you still call a planet, do you expect to hide?" "Bass," Elpizo said, drawly, "We don't have time for this. There's no other option at the moment." "Like hell there isn't," the Robot Master stated as he slammed his fist into his palm. "It's easy, we trash the uplink station and bring down their satellite, end of problem."

"Bass, you can't be serious," Elpizo shouted, "It'd be a suicide mission with all the security they're bound to have!" "Then just send me," Bass countered. Roll spoke up, "Bass, it's too dangerous!" "Not if I go with him," Protoman said. "I'll go too," was Zero's reply.

"I'll…I'll join you."

Everyone seemed shocked at Leviathan's decision. "I don't want anymore people to die needless deaths, I'll do my part, and help stop the fighting with my own two hands."

"This is preposterous," Elpizo shot, "We don't even know where to teleport you." "Actually, sir," an Operator said, "We just got the telemetry from the last attack, we bounced the satellite signal back to the artic zone where we initially encountered Weil and Omega. We can't teleport inside, but we can get reasonably close."

"Do it."

Elpizo whirled to Ciel, "How _DARE _you attempt to supercede my authority!" "Bass is right," Ciel countered, "We can't hide. I hate to put them in danger, but they're the only ones who can do this. Operator, prepare the trans-server." "Belay that order," Elpizo snarled.

"Coordinates set, trans-server ready, ma'am."

"I am in command here, YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME," Elpizo roared as Bass, Protoman, Leviathan, and Zero stood on the trans-server. "Transport in 3…2…1…"

The four figures vanished and Elpizo stared Ciel in the eyes. "I can't believe you did that, and in front of my men, no less." "Please," Ciel said with pleading eyes, "Have faith in them." "Faith, hmph! Your so-called _PRECIOUS _faith will get us all killed."

"All of you, be careful," Roll quietly whispered.

----------

"Holy CRAP it's cold!"

Protoman's ability to state the obvious was amazing. "Why the hell did Dr. Light make me able to feel COLD!?"

"I guess it's part of being human," Leviathan calmly stated. "Why are YOU okay?" Protoman asked. "Duh, water, ice, it's my thing. Kinda hard to freeze me." Protoman grunted as he looked to Bass and Zero, "What about you two?"

Bass rubbed his shoulders and said, "Yeah, this sucks." Zero, however, merely stated, "Arctic condition armor, activate." A quick shift and his red armor turned white as the cold eased off of him. Bass whistled and said, "I wonder if I have that with this new armor of mine." To his surprise, his armor shifted white and he was already feeling better. "Well I'll be damned."

Protoman gawked at both before saying, "You can't possibly expect me to believe a little color change in your armor somehow magically makes you warmer." Bass smirked and said, "I wouldn't call it magic, but it certainly works. Besides, you've got…a scarf." "Oh yeah, _REAL _lot of good that's doing me, middle of the arctic and I've got a scarf while you have temperature appropriate armor. Yeah, Bass, you know what? You can go to hell."

Bass smirked, "Hell, huh? I hear it's warm there. Yeah, maybe I will go there, ya know, warm up a bit more, hey, I've got it. You can light your scarf on fire! That way, you can have a small slice of hell with you!"

"Both of you, knock it off, we've got a job to do." Zero's voice, colder than the ice around them, whipped them back into shape, but it was plain to see that Protoman was scowling.

"I recognize that building," Leviathan said as she pointed in the distance to a large dome. "The entrance is almost completely barricaded, but there's a dry-dock to the left. We could take that channel over there and sneak in."

Protoman gawked. "Hey, I don't swim, I sink! Not to mention I'm freezing my BUTT off here!" Leviathan smiled and said, "I'm made for aquatic environments. Bass has my abilities, the two of us could ferry you guys across in no time."

Bass shrugged, saying, "Sounds like a plan," As Zero nodded. Protoman opened his mouth, but Bass quickly said, "Look, I promise it'll be quick, stop complaining." Protoman crossed his arms, looking away as he replied, "Fine, let's do this."

Plan in mind, Bass quietly said, "Fairy mode, activate." His armor bubbled over, the gold accents changing into peaceful, blue waves. Slim fins rose from the backs of his gauntlets and greaves. A visor appeared over his eyes. To top it off, the fins of his helmet grew, extending into fins similar to Leviathan's. He heard a chuckle from Protoman.

"What?" "Fairy mode? Not exactly what I'd expect out of you. Kinda girly, don't you think?" To Protoman's comment, Bass growled before shouting, "I couldn't change the name, okay!? Besides, what about you and that damn scarf?" "HEY! The scarf is cool!" "Yeah, I bet it is…_BRUCE_." Protoman nearly bit Bass's head off as he shouted, "Dude! NOT COOL!"

"Both of you, focus!" Barked Zero as he and Leviathan waded in the water. Bass and Protoman scowled at each other, but waded into the water as well. Before long, the quartet had lowered into the ice cold water, Bass and Leviathan navigating as they dragged Protoman and Zero along.

Bass could practically feel Protoman shivering as he dragged him along. He couldn't exactly blame him or make fun of him, after all, he'd taken the easy way out, he wasn't feeling the cold at all. He saw Leviathan pointing up and he nodded. They ascended, rising into a large, indoor dock. A submarine was stationed on the side and there was a low concentration of personnel, none of them combat worthy.

As the quartet rose up and onto dry land, the personnel quickly ran away. Protoman collapsed, rubbing his arms together, breathing heavily. "I hate this, I'm going nuts here!" Bass sighed, muttering, "Fairy mode, offline, fighter mode, activate."

Switching to his fire-based combat armor, Bass took the time to warm his ally. After a few minutes, he switched back to his normal armor and said, "Now stop complaining, let's go." "Uh…yeah…thanks, I guess." Bass didn't reply. He just walked ahead into the facility and the others quickly followed.

Time against them, they ran through corridor after corridor, easily dispatching any interference from their goal. They had to find the command room, ASAP, but as time dragged on and each corridor looked as identical as the last, Protoman finally got fed up and said, "We're lost." "That's why we're still moving," Bass shot back, "If we keep up the momentum, we'll either get where we're going or find someone!"

"Look sharp," Zero said as they finally stopped at a large pair of reinforced doors. "Heh, finally," Bass replied with a smirk. As the two parted the doors, Protoman looked to Leviathan. "You're awfully quiet." She looked away, then down as she said, "It's not easy, I'm actually going against Ma-I mean X's will. There's really no going back."

Protoman empathized with her and asked, "Do you want to go back? There's still time." She shook her head, "No, I've come this far, I'll see this through." "HEY!" Bass barked, "Quit dragging your feet and let's get a move on!"

Protoman and Leviathan both smiled before rushing ahead, past the doors and into a wide area. "I don't like it," Zero began, "Too much space." "Yeah," Bass added, "Lots of room to fight."

"Indeed!"

As the doors at the end of the room parted, a towering figure entered. Standing fully erect, Bass guessed that his newest opponent was at least ten feet tall. His black chest armor sported large, white shoulder pads with red crystals at the trim that had green spikes jutting from them. His upper legs were white with green plating to the sides. From the knee and downwards, he was black, with green crescents running down his legs. At the feet, powerful looking, blue hooks, or rather, sickles shot out. His powerful, black arms were protected by sturdy blue wrist guards. On his back were a pair of large, red drills. Topping it off, his black head sported a large, red spike.

The figure spoke, "I, Thrudgelmir, bid you welcome from the ranks of Lord Fefnir's lieutenants. I hope you didn't plan on leaving alive."

"Well, yeah, I kinda did." Bass replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Now why don't you stand still and let me snap you in half?" Thrudgelmir laughed and shouted, "I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE!" Bass growled, raising his fist to the sky as he replied, "Bring it," but Leviathan stepped up.

"Go on ahead," Bass opened his mouth to protest Leviathan's words, but she quickly added, "Time is of the essence, right? Let me handle this. I can handle one of Fefnir's cronies, no problem."

Bass didn't like the idea, but Zero nodded and said, "Let's go." "Fine," Bass spat, "But you'd better be okay when I get back." "How touching, you care about others now," Protoman chimed in, but held his tongue as Bass began to growl again.

The trio ran for the door as Thrudgelmir rushed to intercept, but a powerful burst of water cut him off from them. As he turned to see Leviathan charge him with her spear, he realized he'd let the other three get away. "No matter," He said, "Galgua will get them. Now, I have you all to myself, Lady Leviathan."

Leviathan took a step back as she assumed a defensive stance, before replying, "Well, don't think I'll be a pushover, big boy. I didn't get to be one of X's guardians by being weak!"

"That brings me to one of the reasons Lord Fefnir sent me. He misses you." "What?" "Yes, the Lord is quite distraught without you. He wants you to come back. He promises he won't let any harm befall you. He will personally see to it that all is forgiven with Master X. All you need do is return."

Leviathan dropped her guard as she realized that she was being given the chance to go back. All would be forgiven? Her programming would stay in tact? Fefnir actually missed her? But, if she went back, Bass and Zero would become her enemies again. Not to mention, she'd just help further the fighting along, rather than stop it. No, she couldn't just abandon them.

"No deal," She said as she thrust her spear at Thrudgelmir. As it made contact, it did no visible damage, but he quickly froze in place. She smiled to herself before giggling and saying, "A Thrud-sicle." Her smile was short lived as he burst free from his frozen prison and grabbed her arm with such force that she dropped her spear.

"Reconsider, Lady Leviathan," he calmly said as she pulled against his grip before finally resorting to an axe kick that wrested her free. "I could easily disable you and bring you back by force," Thrudgelmir stated, but Leviathan would hear none of it as she retrieved her spear, freezing the tip until it grew to the size of a claymore and brought it down on her well-armored opponent.

"You're getting troublesome," He said as the ice-blade shattered. He reached out and grabbed her spear by the tip, squeezing it until it's sharpened point was bent beyond useless, then with one mighty tug, he yanked it from her grip and snapped it in half, tossing either end away.

"That's impossible," She said to herself. "Not with the gift of power I was given, all thanks to Dr. Weil." She gasped, "You don't mean…" "Yes, the Dark Elf's power runs through my body as it does Omega's. Now please, my Lady. Even though Lord Fefnir wishes your safe return, I will return you by any means necessary. Whether that be in peace, or pieces."

---------

A few more hallways behind them, Bass, Protoman, and Zero arrived at a new pair of reinforced doors. Quickly forcing them open and rushing in, they ran into a golden figure. His body was bulky and lizard-shaped, not really a dragon or a dinosaur, it just had a heavily reptilian build with a large gauntlet on either arm.

"I am Galgua, servant of Master Fefnir, if you wish to stop the satellite, the room is behind me, but will only open with my destruction! COME! Face me in combat and prove you give no value to your lives!"

Bass stepped forward, crossing his arms as he eyed Galgua. "I'm beginning to see a pattern here. All of Fefnir's lackeys are big and ugly. I mean you really take the prize on that too." He smirked, letting loose a low laugh as Galgua snarled, "How dare you!"

The golden monster reploid lifted off the ground and rushed Bass with incredible speed as one of his gauntlets opened up, producing a powerful claw that locked around Bass, who barely managed to utter, "What speed!" before he was slammed into the wall.

"BASS," Protoman and Zero shouted as Bass struggled to open his eyes. "Ngh…guh…" he murmured as his eyes opened to the jaws of Galgua, which quickly produced red-hot flames, point blank on the Robot Master.

Summoning his strength, Bass managed to raise his buster and fire at Galgua's head. Luckily, it was enough force to make the monster let him go and he dropped, needing a moment to recover, but Galgua wasn't going to give that to him. "You'll pay for scorching my face with plasma, boy!" Galgua's chest opened, producing an energy weapon. "MEGA SMASHER," He shouted, charging and then firing an incredibly destructive burst of energy that ate through the wall and would have certainly fried Bass if Protoman hadn't tackled him out of the way.

"Thanks," Bass halfheartedly said. "Don't mention it," Protoman replied before running back into the fray. Now he and Zero took their turns, dodging the beast while occasionally getting their hits in.

Both warriors noted how thick Galgua's armor was, realizing that they'd done surprisingly little damage to their opponent, and the situation was ticking Bass off. As Protoman nimbly leapt out of the way of another burst of fire, Bass felt something click. "Fire elemental, heh. Fairy mode, activate!"

Armor bubbling over into its water adaptation, he quickly fired a burst of water and watched as it quickly froze over into long streaks of ice that hit Galgua, doing nothing. "What the?" He asked as Zero called out, "Ice is no good against fire, you have to use thunder!"

Both Protoman and Bass stopped at this concept. "You've got to be kidding me," Bass said. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Bass." Zero perked an eyebrow at Protoman and Bass before leaping out of the way of Galgua's claw. "What do you mean," He asked, "It's the elemental circle. Thunder beats fire. Fire beats ice. Ice beats thunder."

Bass and Protoman unleashed charged shots on Galgua, once again, barely doing damage as Bass scoffed, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! What, did they change physics in the last two-hundred years? First of all, thunder is a freakin' sound. And how the hell does lighting, excuse me, _THUNDER_, beat fire!? If anything, it should cause MORE fire!"

"Stop complaining," Zero commanded as he parried one of Galgua's claws. "I don't think I will," Bass countered, "You know what we use to put out fires? WATER! What the hell is ice, but frozen water!? Oh, and while I'm on it, tell me how water beats thunder? Pretty sure water's an excellent conductor for it, so the weakness should be the other way around!" "Look," Zero said, annoyance finally creeping into his voice, "Don't ask me how or why things work the way they do. They just _DO_, so quit complaining!"

Bass reverted to his regular armor before a shift in the color made him orange and blue. "This better work," He muttered as he closed in on Galgua. "THUNDER CLAW!" Clownman's specialty did the trick, striking the monster reploid with enough force that he finally stopped. "Well I'll be damned," Bass said with a whistle. "Told you," Zero replied, stoicism back in his voice as he activated his thunder chip and brought a charged saber slash down on the opponent.

As electricity riddled through Galgua, Protoman noticed the heavy armor of their monstrous opponent chipping and he decided it was time to give it a try. "First button primes it," he said to himself, pressing a button on his shield handle and getting a low beep in return.

Galgua started to finally lumber forward, much slower than before and didn't have the chance to react to Protoman sliding in front of him, shield pointed at him. "Have a taste of this!" Protoman shouted as he pressed the second button. Hatches all over his shield opened and a hail of metal balls burst free, ripping into Galgua's body. Bass and Zero only watched as Protoman reduced their enemy to mere shrapnel.

"Well damn," Bass said to Protoman as their opponent exploded and the door he was guarding with his life finally opened. Protoman bowed and waved his arms to the door and with a smile, said, "After you."

----------

Leviathan fell back, panting. Thrudgelmir just didn't seem to slow down. "My Lady," He calmly said, "It's clear that you're not a match for me. I suggest you stop before I terminally injure you."

"N-no," She managed to force out. "I'm…finally fighting for something I want. I'm finally trying to make a real difference…and…there are people who believe in me. Bass, Zero, I won't let them down!"

She gathered her ice powers to her fist and punched, but Thrudgelmir caught her by the arm and squeezed. She could feel the joints and servos in her arm whine as the strain grew. Finally, a sickening crunch was heard and Leviathan was free, not on her own terms, but because her arm snapped off.

She cried out in pain as electricity crackled through the damage. "Do you understand your position now, my Lady?" "Go…go to hell." "Very well, more demonstration of my power is in order!" Thrudgelmir ripped the drills on his back free and now attached to his forearms, he launched them like rockets.

Having mere moments, Leviathan summoned a wall of ice, but the drills quickly burrowed through it and she barely had the chance to move to the side. Even with her quick evasion, she was grazed on the side, the drill eating through her like she were paper. She collapsed and coughed, internal fluids now dripping from her side and even more coming up when she coughed.

"I won't…give in…" She muttered as she rose to her feet. "I respect your resolve," Thrudgelmir admitted, "Thus, I will give you the honor of death by my blade." "Wha?"

One of Thrudgelmir's shoulders lit up. Soon, the spikes attached to it parted and flew to his hand. A long handle was produced that he gripped, and from it, a fantastic blade, tall and wide as he emerged.

Looking at his weapon, Leviathan guessed she didn't have it in her to dodge anymore. This fight was over. At least she died doing something on her own accord.

"Swing that blade and I'm going to make you eat it."

Leviathan managed to look up and saw Bass had come to her rescue, with Zero and Protoman behind him. "Oh, and you," he said to Leviathan, "You said you'd be okay. Knew I shouldn't have left you alone." "Did…did you…"

Bass ignored Thrudgelmir as he walked to Leviathan. "Easy, don't talk, save your strength. Yeah, shut down the satellite. Just to make sure it doesn't cause anymore trouble, I sent it in this direction. We should expect a careening piece of space metal in about ten or so minutes. Just enough time to beat the crap out of this guy."

Leviathan quickly shot up, but regretted it as the pain went through her body. "You can't! The…the Dark Elf's…p-power…" She collapsed into Bass's waiting arms. He gently laid her down as he looked to Zero. "Hey, the shield over this place is down, right?" Zero nodded. "Good, send her back."

Zero tapped his helmet. "Operator, this is Zero, mission accomplished. Lock on to Leviathan's IDC and bring her back. Have emergency medical teams on standby, she's hurt bad." "Roger," came the reply, "What about the rest of you?" "We're fine," Zero answered, "But we have some unfinished business. Give us eight minutes."

As Leviathan's body vanished under the power of the Resistance Base's trans-server, Bass let loose a shout of rage as he rushed Thrudgelmir. As the mighty reploid's sword came swinging his way, he used it to vault over his opponent and fire a charged shot of plasma, which harmlessly bounced away. "Weak! That was too weak!" Thrudgelmir shouted as he grabbed Bass by the leg and swung him into the ground.

Before Thrudgelmir could finish off Bass, Zero came in, quickly closing the distance between him and his target and struck with his saber, but got as little result as Bass. "My armor is coated with a special beam reflective material," Thrudgelmir explained. "Your energy weapons won't harm me!"

As he swung his arm for a mighty punch, Protoman grabbed him by the arm and used his momentum to flip the powerful reploid, who went skidding along into a wall, giving Bass and Zero the time to get up and recover.

"Okay, as far as I see it," Protoman started, "We have to do enough damage to him that it doesn't matter how much armor he has. We should all attack together, focus on a single point." Zero nodded as Bass replied, "Sure, why not, just don't get in my way."

The trio quickly fired rapid shots, Bass and Protoman from their busters, Zero from his pistol. "Don't fall behind," Zero said as he rushed forward. "What, hey!" Bass shouted as he and Protoman charged. "We're not following your lead! We're following mine!"

As Bass and Protoman let their charged shots fly, Protoman remarked, "Seriously, could you even complain more? Just a little?" As the shots they fired met the center of Thrudgelmir's chest, Zero quickly thrust his saber with all his force into the small indentation now in Thrudgelmir's armor and it sank through.

"I keep telling you two to focus!" Zero said as he brought his saber up, bringing Thrudgelmir off the ground and into a pair of previously fired charged shots. As Thrudgelmir began his descent, Bass and Protoman appeared in front of him with blinding speed and pressed their busters to the wound on Thrudgelmir. "GROUND ZERO BEATDOWN, TAKE IT!" Bass shouted as he and Protoman let loose point-blank shots.

A powerful thrust from Zero from up above brought his saber into Thrudgelmir once more. "Not yet," he said, "TAKE THIS TOO!" Zero pushed his buster pistol into Thrudgelmir and fired repeatedly before backing off. Soon all three slid into position near each other.

Protoman primed his shield, the hatches opening and a rain of metal flying from his shield as he shouted, "EAT IT! EAT IT ALL!" Thrudgelmir's armor could no longer take this kind of punishment and holes began to riddle his body. "This is the end," Zero stated as he and Bass began to charge. "So," Bass said, "GOODBYE!"

Bass let loose a mighty burst of plasma that seemed to amplify the force of Zero's charged saber, and Thrudgelmir began to crumble before them. "N-no! I can't lose! Lord Fefnir, FORGIVE ME!"

As Thrudgelmir exploded, Protoman mentioned, "It's…getting kinda close to impact time, we should get out of here." Zero agreed, but Bass quickly ran off, back to the command room. "What the hell is he doing," Protoman asked.

"Greetings, this is your friendly, neighborhood Robot Master," Bass's voice resounded from the intercom. "In a few minutes, you'll have a giant satellite come crashing down on your heads. If you don't want to die, I suggest you leave."

As Bass returned to the duo, he said, "NOW we can go." "Roger that," Zero began, "Operator, we're ready." They vanished into a burst of light.

Soon, if anyone were still in the facility, they'd hear the scream of metal plummeting through the sky. If they were still in the facility, they wouldn't have even felt their deaths as the crashing satellite vaporized all around it on impact.

----------

Cheering was heard all around the Resistance Base as the image of a large satellite cannon impacted the ground. One sound in particular was a satisfied sigh at the destruction from Bass, who was quickly hugged by Roll. "I'm glad you're safe," she softly said. "Heh, never worried for a second," Bass replied.

"Where's Ciel?" Zero asked. An operator answered. "She's in Elpizo's office." "I see," was all Zero said.

----------

"They're celebrating, you know," Ciel told a grief-stricken Elpizo. "I know," he replied. "They…actually succeeded," he admitted. "I was just going to run away like the cowardly rat I am. I don't deserve to lead."

Ciel sighed and placed her hand on Elpizo's. "You were doing what you thought was best. You did nothing wrong. Come on, celebrate with us." "I don't deserve to celebrate. Ciel, just leave me be." "…Alright," she slowly acquiesced. "But don't sulk too much, you're a symbol of strength for everyone, just as much as Zero or anyone else."

As she left, Elpizo laughed to himself. "A symbol of strength? I have no strength, I'm a weakling and a coward."

"You seek power." "We can give it to you."

Elpizo whirled around. "Who's there!? Show yourself!"

Two orbs of purple light floated in front of him. "Cyber elves?" he asked, confused.

"You want to be strong, like Zero." The first one said. "We can give you that power, we can give you Momma's power." The other said.

"Wait…" Elpizo was piecing it together. "You're…Crea and Prea…you're the daughters of the Dark Elf…"

"We can make you strong, stronger than Zero," Crea said. "You just have to trust us," Prea added.

Elpizo realized he was seriously considering it, but he knew the cost of power like the Dark Elf's. Was it worth sacrificing himself? Then again, he couldn't live his life depending on the skills of others.

"I…understand," he slowly replied, "Lend me power, greater power than Zero!"

The two cyber elves giggled as they circled him and his body soon began to glow.

----------

"How's Leviathan," Bass incurred. "Not good," Cerveau replied, "She's entering cascade system failure. It won't be long before she dies." An unacceptable answer as far as Bass was concerned. He proved this by grabbing Cerveau by the collar and saying, "Can't you do something? FIX HER! Like you did with Protoman!"

Cerveau pushed Bass back as he replied, "Protoman was different. His repairs were simple. We honestly don't have the parts to repair her."

Bass turned heel and walked away, stating, "Well I know who does."

Riding the elevator to the command level, he shouted to an operator. "HEY! Send me into Neo Arcadia! Get me near a hospital or a medical warehouse, I don't care!"

Roll quickly rushed to him. "You're not trying to raid a hospital all alone, are you?" "Of course I am!" "But…Bass…it's…so dangerous. After what you and the others did, security will probably be tighter." "I don't care," he crossed his arms as he added, "It's nothing I wouldn't do for you." He turned to the operator. "Send me."

"Wait!" Ciel rushed to Bass and handed him a small pack. "It's full of portable IDCs so we can lock on and teleport them back here. Please, be safe." "Sure," Bass said as he took the pack, "Take all the fun out of it." With a smirk, he vanished.

"You've really changed," Roll said to herself, "For better or worse?"

----------

Standing outside of a large hospital, Bass wasted no time in entering and walking up to a receptionist. "Hey, where's your medical store?" The pretty nurse reploid was buried into a magazine and didn't look up to Bass, merely saying, "What's it to you? Do you have identification?"

A slight hum was heard and she could feel heat building up as Bass replied, "My ID, right here." She looked up to see a buster in her face and she panicked, pointing to the elevator and saying, "Basement 2, please don't hurt me!"

Bass looked away from her, entered the elevator, and quickly descended. As it stopped and he exited, he felt something was off. He rolled to the side as a trio of kunai hit where he had been. Looking around, searching, he laid eyes on one Twilight Phantom. "What the hell are you doing here?" Bass inquired.

"If you must know, I was merely receiving routine maintenance when you intruded. What brings you here?" "I'm here for a friend." Phantom considered Bass's words before asking, "A friend?" "Yeah," Bass replied, "Cute, blue armor, water powers, used to work with you guys. Probably the best of friends until you all decided to turn on her. Now she's hurt pretty bad and you're in my way. Move, let me take the supplies I want, and maybe I won't scrap you."

Phantom didn't back down. "Death awaits all those who oppose Master X." "Are you even listening to yourself," Bass shot, "She was your ally not too long ago, she only turned on you when you turned on her! At least she's not living some stupid lie! Now out of my way or I'll put you out of both of our miseries."

Phantom raised his large beam shuriken and stated, "If Leviathan deserves to live, then prove it to me. Defeat me in battle and prove her worth to you."

"So be it," Bass replied as he assumed his offensive stance, buster pointed to Phantom. "Get ready to die," were his last words.

----------

Ending Notes: Neato chapter, eh? Well tell me what you think about it.

Thrudgelmir is severely toned down from his Super Robot Wars incarnation. Honestly, in the Original Generation2 game I took him from, he handled 14 of my forces with no problem…same with Galgua, but I've kept their descriptions and abilities accurate, just changed their sizes and gave them personalities similar to the pilots that used them.

The combination attack Bass, Protoman, and Zero used was inspired by the combination attack "Rampage Ghost" used in Super Robot Wars: Original Generation 1 and 2.

Finally, look at Bass go. Two girls with feelings after him. Whatever shall he do? Whatever shall I do? That's easy, I'll leave it up to you. Vote on who will ultimately gain his affection.

Until Next time!


	6. Chapter 6

Some Author's Notes: Welcome to Chapter Six. It gets sorta lengthy in some parts, bare with me. Also, I've tried to tone down some of Bass's language, it might have worked, it might not have. It's Bass, I've done all I can.

Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own Bass and other Megaman related characters, that's all Capcom.

Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own Uruz, Thurisuz, or Bergelmir, or any other Super Robot Taisen character for that matter, that's all Banpresto.

----------

Phantom raised his large beam shuriken and stated, "If Leviathan deserves to live, then prove it to me. Defeat me in battle and prove her worth to you."

"So be it," Bass replied as he assumed his offensive stance, buster pointed to Phantom. "Get ready to die," were his last words.

Even though it had only been a few moments, it seemed like they'd stayed in their positions for hours now, trying to outwait the other, let the opponent make the first move. As time dragged on, an important concept revealed itself to Bass: He isn't one for patience.

"To hell with it," he muttered to himself as he dashed at Phantom, the silent reploid only remarking, "As expected." Phantom seemingly faded into the shadows and out of Bass's line of sight. To this, the Robot Master growled as his eyes darted back and forth, seeking out his enemy.

"He who merely sees with his eyes might as well be blind," Phantom's voice echoed from all directions. "Well," Bass replied, "Why don't you give this blind robot a hand and stop hiding like a coward?"

Something sharp whistling through the air was Bass's only signal that he was in danger. Throwing himself to the ground, he narrowly dodged Phantom's beam shuriken. The weapon in question arched upwards, striking the light fixture, cascading the entire room in darkness.

"It's dark," Bass uttered, mockingly, "I'm _SO _scared…" His crimson eyes changed to green, and the room lit back up as his night vision kicked in. He smirked as he locked onto Phantom, the reploid quickly running along the wall, headed straight for Bass.

As Bass fired his buster, Phantom easily leapt away, and instead of his target, Bass hit a box of medical supplies. "Damn it," he muttered to himself. "I've got to play it smart in here or I'll fry the damn things I came to take…"

Bass knew he'd have to force Phantom into close-range combat, he just didn't know how to go about it. This sucked in his opinion. Here he was, sticking his neck out to save someone—once again, he was sure he was malfunctioning—and the only thing in his way was some ninja-bot who enjoyed playing games of hide-and-seek.

"Screw it," Bass said to himself as he rushed forward. He reached into his pack and began placing little IDC transmitters onto boxes, only to have kunai rain from different directions, striking down his work.

"You won't get around me like that," Informed Phantom. Still, Bass didn't stop, only asking, "Why just chip 'em off if you're trying to stop me?" His reply came from all directions, "If I were to destroy them, would you not loose your will to fight?" but he was shocked when three boxes full of medical supplies vanished. "But how?" He asked.

"Heh," Bass replied, smugly. "You're so worried about keeping an eye on me that you're not watching which directions I throw these things…or which directions you knock them too."

Phantom's jaw would have dropped, but he was far too composed for that. Instead, he called up a replay of one of his surgical strikes on the transmitters. As the scene played, he saw Bass land a transmitter on a box and soon his kunai quickly made contact with it, knocking it off the box in question and right onto another one.

"I understand, you're staying near large concentrations of supplies. That way, even if I intercept your efforts, you still get some supplies. Rather clever, I'm afraid I underestimated you and your resolve. You must truly want to save her."

"Someone needs to look out for her," Bass gruffly replied, "I mean, you guys went total turn-coat on her." "Based on what we know of you," said Phantom, "I'm surprised you even care." Bass actually agreed with him. After all, he'd never cared about anyone but himself before, but ever since he'd come to this time, it seemed that he was always saving someone.

Phantom continued, "You even informed our base that it was doomed and advised its evacuation. Don't try to deny that, we monitor all Neo Arcadian transmissions. Frankly, I'm surprised that you didn't turn the satellite on Neo Arcadia, itself and rid yourself of us once and for all."

Bass scoffed as he crossed his arms. "Ya know, not too long ago, well…for me at least, I fought a powerful robot named King with the dweeb. King had the idea that we should wipe out the humans and make a robotic utopia. The blue idiot was doing it to protect the humans. Heh, I had my own reasons. Anyways, I beat King, and he was surprised I didn't want all the humans wiped out. Like I told him, I'll tell you. I have at least some respect for humans. After all, they did make robots."

Phantom nodded, and for his troubles, was rewarded with a buster shot to the chest. Figuring he was caught off-guard, he recovered, quickly scrambling to a wall, and barely ducked as more searing hot plasma came his way.

"_He's tracking me,"_ he thought to himself, _"But how…"_ As he made his next dash in the shadows, the glint of his beam shuriken caught his eye. "Bass…very clever, indeed. Very well, I shall no longer hold back my strength. Prepare yourself."

The air around Phantom grew hot for a split second as he rushed forward to Bass, making a slash with his shuriken that ate through the floor and into the wall. Bass fell back, grabbing his side. He'd managed to avoid the brunt of the move, but not all of it, and the second it had hit, it easily melted through his armor.

"Son of a…" Bass shook his head. Now with Phantom closer to him, Bass thrust a fist forward, easily avoided by the ninja. Not deterred, Bass threw a flurry of punches and kicks to his opponent, but nothing connected.

"I'm much too fast for you," Phantom noted, "Let me show you what a guardian of Master X can do."

----------

The command hub of Neo Arcadia was a well organized and maintained machine of bureaucracy. This was from where X commanded his city and kept it safe from the likes of the disruptive Resistance Base. It was also where he met with his troops.

"Where is Phantom?" X asked Fefnir and Harpuia. "Phantom went in for routine maintenance a while ago, Master X," Harpuia replied, "We haven't heard from him. Perhaps he has pressing business." "More pressing than a meeting with his leader?" X asked, incredulously. Fefnir shrugged. "Who knows what goes on in his head."

"Regardless," said X, "As you know, our orbital cannon just went down. We know Bass and Zero are to blame. We even have confirmation of a third called Protoman, and it's been confirmed that Leviathan has joined them. Zero was a handful already, but now Bass and the others? We need a plan to stop them. Unfortunately, we can barely slow them down."

"Yes," Harpuia agreed, "Compared to our technology, Bass and Zero are complete relics, but no amount of force seems to slow them down and I can't figure out why."

"I can answer that," Weil remarked as he entered the room. "Sorry for the delay, Master X, I had to put the finishing touches on an overhaul for Omega." Fefnir's eyebrow twitched as he asked, "You're making him_ MORE _powerful?" "Of course," Weil replied, "After all, with the growing threat of the Resistance, we need his strength."

"Doctor," Harpuia said, "You said you knew of why Bass and Zero are as strong as they are." "Yes," Weil mused as he brought up a display of Zero and Bass. "Both of them were built approximately 200 years ago, even if Zero's activation came nearly a century later, by the same hands, no less. They are the masterpiece works of my ancestor, the great Doctor Albert Wily."

It wasn't making sense to Harpuia, but Weil continued, "Think of it. The era they were built in. Advanced robotics was in its infancy. Rules and regulations against levels of destructive potential had yet to exist. Furthermore, less restraints are placed on their capabilities. Unlike today's current robots, they don't have to wait for some level of damage to be incurred on their bodies before using their full potential. No, they're fully capable of attacking with all their might in the beginning."

Fefnir forced a groan as he remarked, "So they're more powerful because they're OLDER!?" Weil chuckled as he answered the hot-headed reploid. "That's only part of the equation. The other part is much more…_dangerous_. Harpuia, remember when Bass was first apprehended?"

"Yes," Harpuia commented, "He was so badly damaged that we had to replace most of his parts with reploid standards." Weil nodded before saying, "What if I told you that his body rejected all of those components?" "That's impossible," Harpuia said, but Weil countered with, "It's true. Not too long after his apprehension and attempted repair, I was notified of the situation. We had to craft duplicates of his ruined parts."

Harpuia was getting confused. "But the medical scans clearly indicated that he was more Reploid than Robot Master!" "I know," Weil said with a smirk, "Call it a side-effect of his ability to copy enemy data, I don't know, but Bass is adapting, as is Zero. Technically, the term "Reploid" only refers to the likes of you and the others all made off of Master X's design, that _EXCLUDES _Bass and Zero. They're both technically Robot Masters, and as time goes by, as they encounter more enemies, their programming evolves and the nano-machines in their bodies rewrite their structures."

"They're evolving?" X asked. "Into what?" Weil shook his head, "Not even I know. All I do know is that if we don't take care of them soon, we may not ever be able to. " "What do you suggest, Doctor?" "Well, Master X, I suggest that, for starters, it may be time to retire the Pantheon line. After all, they never bring back favorable results. We should begin mass-production of the MK II line."

"Preposterous," Harpuia snapped, "as advanced as they may be, they're hardly cost-effective! With the amount of resources it takes to build one, we can make eight Pantheons." A cruel smile graced Weil's lips as he responded with, "Don't lecture me on cost effectiveness, boy. After all, how many Pantheons have you lost to Bass and Zero?" Silence was Harpuia's reply, and the cocky doctor added, "That's what I thought. Master X, please give me permission to field the MK II series."

X thought a moment, before replying, "I understand. Doctor, begin low-scale production of the MK II series. Phase out the Pantheons slowly, I'd rather not bankrupt our city." Weil nodded, saying, "Yes, a wise decision, Master X."

Their meeting was concluded with a new arrival. Purple-skinned with the look of a calm warrior, he stood tall in his gray, sleeveless jumpsuit. The figure, his hair parted in the middle, half black, the other half blonde, spoke up. "Papa, I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's important. Thurisuz took some Pantheons and went to raid one of the settlements outside Neo Arcadia. He…wouldn't listen when I told him to come back and Omega went with him."

"Who is this?" Harpuia asked, annoyed at the interruption and equally confused as to who was his 'Papa'. "This," Weil started, "Is Uruz, the first bio reploid. Consider him a fifth generation reploid." "Bio? Fifth generation?"

Weil smirked at the look on Harpuia's face. "Yes, fifth generation, designed with biological components. I figured that something closer to human would match the adaptation skills of Zero, then Bass came along. Uruz was built with their data, and the data we got…from _THAT _one."

Harpuia shifted uncomfortably. "Doctor, you haven't activated him, have you?" Weil shrugged as he replied, "Of course not, not yet anyways. The damage to his frame is much too extensive. I'd kill him if I tried reactivating him at this point." "That's not the point, Doctor," Harpuia pointed out, "His entire generation went Maverick. The second generation line was terminated for a reason."

A scoff from Weil started his reply as he said, "Please. The Jakob Incident? Or the mishap at Giga City? It doesn't matter. If you'll remember, he was crucial in rectifying both matters. It was just unfortunate that everyone turned on him." Harpuia sighed out, "He's _DANGEROUS_, Doctor." "What isn't dangerous?" Weil countered. Silence was the answer. Weil enjoyed leaving Harpuia speechless and added, "Or is it something else? Feeling uncomfortable? A fourth generation reploid like yourself must feel so inferior. After all, Omega's the only remaining third generation and he's more powerful than you. Bass and Zero are _ROBOT MASTERS _and you've lost to Zero…twice now, is it? Now you face not just your future in Uruz, but also a second generation reploid with skills on par with Master X and Zero. It must be so…_frustrating_, being so weak."

As another cruel smile appeared on Weil's face, Fefnir blurted out, "Don't talk to Harpuia about being weak, ya damn, decrepit old man!" "Fefnir, that's enough," Harpuia said as he put an arm in the path of his friend. "But—" "But nothing," Harpuia cut him off as he turned to X. "May I speak, informally I mean." "Of course," X replied as he nodded.

Harpuia cast a harsh glare to Weil as he stated. "When you and Zero defeated Weil eighty years ago, I believe you should have killed him."

Harpuia didn't wait for a reply. He merely turned on his heel and walked away, Fefnir soon on his heels, barking, "H-hey! Wait up!" This left X, Weil, and Uruz alone.

"I'm sorry for his remark, Doctor," said X. "It's understandable that he doesn't trust me," Weil replied. "Still," X said, "Be careful that your work doesn't consume you. Now if you would, kindly stop Omega before he does something horrendous. Remember, those settlements have human lives to consider." "Of course," Weil replied with a bow as X walked away.

"Inferior models," Uruz said with disdain. "Yes, but we need them for now." "Papa, are you sure we need all of them? I'd like to retire Harpuia, myself." "Uruz, my boy, be patient. In time, I'll let you kill Harpuia, but for now, try to be civil." "Yes, Papa. So, are you going to stop Thurisuz and Omega?" "In a while, let them have…fun first." Uruz shook his head as he said, "That's not wise. You know how…unstable Thurisuz is." Weil chuckled a little as he patted Uruz on the head. He finally said, "Oh he just knows how to have fun."

----------

"You sure it was smart to up and say that?"

"Smart or not, it was the truth."

Harpuia and Fefnir walked along the streets of Neo Arcadia. As they did, reploids shrunk back in fear and humans gave them a healthy distance. Of course, that kind of thing didn't bother either of them anymore.

"Dr. Weil is up to something, I can feel it," Harpuia said. "Well what are we going to do about it? He's all buddy-buddy with Master X, we can't touch him." "True, Fefnir. We'll just have to keep our eyes open and be ready to deal with whatever comes our way. Isn't that right, Vysaga?"

Fefnir, confused, looked around as a tall, thin reploid faded into existence. He was blue and gray, with a three-horned crest sprouting from the top of his head. Two his side, a sword was sheathed. On his back flowed a red cape. Even with this rather interesting design statement, he was built more to the design of a ninja.

"How long did you know I was there?" Harpuia eyed Vysaga and replied, "Ever since we entered the building. For one of Phantom's lieutenants, you still have a ways to go to mask your presence from me. I doubt Phantom wants to spy on us. Did Weil send you?" "Yes," Vysaga replied, "Under order of Master X, technically, but it was under the suggestion of Weil. Things are…getting tense."

Harpuia scoffed. Weil was trying to isolate X by making him paranoid of his own guardians. "What do you plan on reporting?" Harpuia asked. "Just that you are loyal to Master X and you have Neo Arcadia's best interests in mind." Harpuia blinked at Vysaga before asking, "You don't approve of Weil either?"

As Vysaga's form faded away, he gave last words. "You'll find that many do not approve of Doctor Weil."

----------

Bass fought to catch his breath, a foolish nuance, considering he didn't breathe. He was just too damned close to human, he guessed. He'd gotten what he wanted, close-range combat with Phantom, and it had proved to be a bad idea. He'd gotten a few hits in, but the ninja reploid proved to be far more maneuverable than Bass had guessed. To top it off, Phantom appeared quite capable in the realm of martial arts.

"You are defeated," Phantom declared as his palm connected to Bass's skull and sent him spiraling away. "I'll admit defeat after I'm dead," Bass stated as he rushed Phantom, who merely shook his head as he flipped over Bass and tossed a trio of kunai into the Robot Master's back. As they made contact, they fizzled as they dissolved into his body. After a moment of pain, Bass collapsed, fighting to move.

"What…did you do…to me?" Phantom closed the distance between him and his immobile opponent and said, "I introduced a powerful, paralysis inducing toxin into your system. I developed it to subdue Omega, but I suppose a field test wasn't out of the question. Right now, you're feeling your joints beginning to fuse shut. In a moment, your entire system will lock up."

"D-damn it," Bass muttered as he failed to move his body.

**ERROR!**

**ERROR!**

**ERROR!**

"I know," Bass spat, "You don't have to keep saying it…" He grumbled to himself before shouting, "What a cheap shot!" "There is no right and wrong in combat," Phantom replied, "Merely victory and defeat."

Victory and defeat. Bass forced a laugh as he realized which side he was on. It was then that he heard a voice. High pitched and annoying as always, "Giving up already, eh, Bass?" "Dweeb…my dweeb…" His eyes focused on Megaman, clearly a hallucination. The small frame of the original blue bomber sat down next to him and laughed a little as Phantom perked an eyebrow.

"Is he hallucinating?"

"Whatever happened to all that talk of being the strongest Robot Master, huh?" "Not…now, dweeb," Bass muttered. "It's never time to talk about your flaws, eh, Bass? How many times did we fight? How many times did I beat you? Were you even trying?" "OF COURSE I WAS TRYING!" Bass snapped with such a level of ferocity that it startled Phantom.

"Yeah, sure, just like you're trying right now? No wonder I always won." Bass began a low growl. It might look like the dweeb. It might talk like the dweeb. None of that mattered, it was more than just the dweeb. It was like his own subconscious was irking him. "Ya know," Megaman continued, "I'm glad Zero came along. You know, I'm betting he's the one who took me out in the end, considering you'd never be able to do it." "TAKE THAT BACK," Bass roared, "TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW! I'M BETTER THAN ZERO! I CAN KICK HIS ASS ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!"

Megaman smiled before saying, "Prove it." With that, he vanished. "Prove it, he says," Bass mocked as he noticed Phantom's hand reaching for him. Was Zero really better, or had Bass only been giving eighty percent of his all, rather than the full one-hundred? He guessed he would find out.

Straining, biting down as the pain got to him, Bass could feel servos in his arm snapping as he forced it to grab onto Phantom's hand. "That's impossible," Phantom said, thoroughly surprised, "You shouldn't be able to move at this point!"

Phantom lit up before Bass lit up. As he felt his armor changing, Bass only remarked, "I'm better than Zero."

**COPY DATA: DATA REPLICATION…SUCCESSFUL**

**DATA REPLICATION PROCESS COMPLETE…BEGINNING ARMOR RECONFIGURATION**

Bass burst into light before his helmet grew over his eyes, narrow slits giving him back his vision. His armor slimmed and gained a white trim. He summoned energy to his fingers and energy kunai formed between them before he sent that energy away. He tried again and a beam shuriken formed. Finally, he forced himself to his feet and waved Phantom down, saying, "Let's go."

"That's enough," Phantom said, "I've seen all I need to see. In the next room is the advanced medical equipment you'll need to save Leviathan. Hurry up." Bass blinked before asking, "What about all that 'there's only victory and defeat' crap of yours?" "It is as I said. I find that I can defeat your body, but not your will. Therefore, I admit defeat. I suggest you repair yourself soon as well."

Phantom didn't wait for a reply. He merely faded into the shadows and Bass laughed to himself before saying, "Save program."

**COPY DATA: BASS-TWILIGHT MODE SAVED**

It was strenuous, but Bass forced himself into the next room and placed the remaining IDCs on boxes of medical supplies and teleported back with them, a grin on his face as he looked to everyone in the command center as he said, "Mission accomplished."

As his armor switched back to normal, he chuckled as he fell unconscious. Roll rushed to him, shouting, "BASS!" as she knelt beside him. "Medical team to the command room," an operator declared as Protoman whistled, stating, "Well damn, he actually did it."

As medical teams took Bass and the hefty amount of supplies he'd…secured, a distress signal was intercepted. "It's from New Haven," the operator stated. "It's only a standard distress signal. There's no audio or visual." "That's strange," Ciel remarked as Elpizo entered the room.

Protoman was quick to bring up a point in his mind. "What if they didn't have time to do anything else?" Ciel shook her head. "New Haven is one of the few places that Neo Arcadia leaves alone…that's because most of the inhabitants are humans." "Regardless," Zero spoke up, "Something happened to them. I'll check it out." "And let you come back, looking like Bass? Heh, I think I'll come too." Zero nodded to Protoman, both taking their places on the trans-server.

"I think I'll come with you."

The duo, along with the entire room, looked on in surprise as Elpizo stepped into the trans-server. "What's with all the shocked looks?" He asked. "Come now, hurry up, we're trying to save lives here."

"Uh, y-yes," the operator responded as she keyed in the coordinates. "Transfer in 3, 2, 1!" The trio vanished in a burst of white light, leaving behind the confused command center.

----------

"I think we got here too late," Protoman stated the obvious as the three looked on. As far as the eye could see, there were mangled bodies, human and reploid. Even Pantheons were littered about, a piece here, a torso there. All littered about a now destroyed town; crumbled houses to the left, destroyed businesses to the right. "None of the inhabitants would have been able to send a transmission," Zero said as Elpizo fought the urge to get sick. Zero and Protoman must have seen some pretty gruesome things in their lives to not be phased in the least.

"What do we do?" Elpizo asked, forgetting he was actually the commander here. "We split up," Zero stated, walking away. "Right, I'll take this way," Protoman replied, walking in another direction. "Wait, do you think it wise to…ah yes," Elpizo soon realized that both were out of earshot and he was left alone. Just what was he trying to prove out here? And to whom?

----------

Protoman walked along the wreckage and ruination of the town and cursed his late arrival. Of course, from the looks of it, with humans and reploids completely decimated, it didn't look like there was much he could have done. He looked down at a Pantheon, it's face smashed in, it's body separated from the torso. "What the hell kind of party did I miss?"

"I killed them, you know. They were all so useless, so weak. Their very existences…insulting."

Protoman whirled around, caught by surprise by this voice and the thoughts its owner harbored. He eyed a tall teenager leaning against rubble, but he quickly guessed, from the purple skin, that he was dealing with a reploid. There was a calm look but he could see wildness behind those eyes. The figure, half his hair red, the other blonde, spoke up. "It's better this way, anyways. A lot more peace and quiet, not all that nonsensical screaming."

Protoman stiffened as he aimed his buster at the figure. "What's with the harsh look?" The stranger asked. "Which side did you kill?" Whoever he was, he laughed at Protoman's question. "I killed my enemies," he motioned to a dead human, "and my allies." He then motioned to a Pantheon.

Protoman's eye twitched, but behind his shades, one would never tell. "You killed your allies? Why?" "Weren't you listening? They were weak and useless. They made better targets than allies anyways. Well except for that one guy. Besides, Papa'd get pretty mad if I killed him." Such a disregard for those who fight with you…it was starting to tick the normally cool Protoman off. "So, do you have a name," Protoman started, "Or should I just call you crazy?"

That wildness in his eyes flared up again as he said, "Call me Thurisuz. I don't care what your name is. You'll be dead in a moment. BERGELMIR, ACTIVATE!" Protoman shielded his eyes as Thurisuz burst into light. His human appearance giving way to more mechanical form as the flesh boiled away and revealed a slender, almost skeletal form. Two orbs burst from his chest and turned blue as a horned ripped its way free from his head and bent back three times. His shoulders sharply jutted outwards as spikes shot from his feet and knees. His entire body quickly turned red as two half-circles sprouted from his back. Each half-circle produced three evenly placed items, shaped like half a Taijitu.

(Author's Midnote: Think of your common yin-yang sign and I pray I spelled Taijitu right)

"Looked like it hurt," Protoman said with a smirk. "I didn't feel a thing," Thurisuz replied as the Bergelmir transformation completed itself. "Bergelmir," Protoman said, "I didn't think much when I heart Thrudgelmir's name, but it looks like someone in Neo Arcadia has a taste for old Norse Mythology." "Bergelmir, son of Thrudgelmir, of the old race of giants," Thurisuz replied. "Don't get it wrong, I'm nowhere related to that weakling, Thrudgelmir, that you retired. Though, I guess I do have something in common with _THAT _Bergelmir, not that it matters."

Thurisuz rushed Protoman, grabbing him by the head as he forced him into the rubble. Not one to just take punishment, Protoman retaliated with a powerful buster shot to the face, but Thurisuz shrugged it off. After his botched attempt at attacking, Protoman felt himself be flung with incredible force and before he could even recover, he had already bounced off the ground twice.

"You're durable," Thurisuz remarked, "Good. I call upon my servants…" The half-circles on his back lit up and detached before combining around his torso. They began to spin as he pointed to Protoman, shouting, "SIX SLAVES! SEND HIM TO HELL!" The six objects affixed to the ring shot free and straight to Protoman, who barely rolled to the side as they shot through the ground and back up. He presumed they'd go through him just as well, but didn't think much of it as they whirled back towards him. "Damn," he muttered as he scrambled to his feet and began to run.

----------

Zero whirled his head. He was sure he's heard some crash in the distance. Frankly, as much as it'd point to trouble, he'd welcome the change of pace from the silence that comes with the death he was surrounded with. It didn't unnerve him, it was just…boring. He sighed. He didn't remember much of his past, working with X, the real one, but something must have happened for him to be so…okay with the situation.

He heard a scream, one he was sure belonged to Protoman, and he pushed all his thoughts out of his head as he began to run in the direction of the shout. Not too long into his sprint, he stopped. He felt something, something familiar, like it was a part of him. He reached for his saber and quickly parried the large fist of Omega, the reploid in question somehow standing silently behind him.

"Going to say anything?" Zero asked, but Omega drew his own blade and Zero shrugged, "Guess not." Zero blocked Omega's powerful strike, or tried to at least. He was quickly forced back and into the ground. He rolled out of the way as Omega brought his saber down and as he hopped back to his feet, he remarked, "Huh, Weil's made you a bit stronger, eh?"

They clashed, two sabers of energy screaming as they made contact, sending sparks that grazed the holders of such powerful weaponry. Zero had to admit, Omega was stronger, but therein was the flaw. As Omega brought down a powerful, overhead swing, Zero dashed to the side and quickly rushed to Omega's back, bringing his saber upward, deep into Omega's back. A deafening roar was his reward as Omega's arms dropped to the ground, a signal that Omega had lost a lot of power.

Zero supposed that if he were his violence-prone older brother, now would be the time to smirk at his victory, but the moment was short-lived. Like so many times before, it seemed Omega's wounds were healing and his arms began to float once more. "Just what does it take to kill you?" Zero asked, but the large reploid didn't give him a reply.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance," replied Elpizo, leaping in to Zero's side, drawing his own, rather thin saber. "Elpizo, this isn't a joke," Zero said, but Elpizo replied, "Good, because I'm not laughing." They both dashed away as Omega attacked, letting loose a large burst of energy from his hand, and Zero locked sabers with Omega again before Omega roared and dropped his guard. Not letting the opportunity go to waste, Zero slashed at Omega's armor, quickly noticing that Elpizo had already done so from behind.

As Omega tried to swing at the both of them and missed, Elpizo jumped overhead and slashed at Omega's face. _"When did Elpizo get this strong?" _Zero thought as he followed through and brought his saber deep into Omega's thick armor and felt the large titan shudder. "Not much more," he said and Elpizo nodded before saying, "Perhaps together, then?" "Yeah," Zero replied, "Before he can recover again."

They both made for Omega's head, but the ogre reached up with his hands to block the blows. Unfortunately for him, they pressed on with as much as their strength and thrusters would let them and they pressed through, sabers reaching through his hands and into the vital structure they had aimed for. Afterwards, they both brought a sharp slash downwards and that was it. Omega fell to one knee as his armor began to crack and Elpizo let out a sound of satisfaction. After all, he'd heard Protoman and Zero in their respective battles. It might have been selfish, but he'd wanted to show his new strength off to Zero, not Protoman, the older robot would just have to make due on his own until Elpizo had shown off his power.

"Something's not right," Zero hissed as the cracks in Omega's armor began to glow. "What…do you mean?" Elpizo asked, confused. "Just…something's wrong." "I AM THE MESSIAH!" Omega shouted as his armor exploded, sending dust in all directions.

"I…I don't believe it," Elpizo stated as the dust cleared. "Zero…what am…I looking at here?" "I…don't know," Zero replied, genuinely confused in a long time. He was staring at…himself, or at least he thought he was. This was a more armored version of himself. Squared shoulders and green orbs in the chest, a 'Z' was emblazed on either shoulder and his helmet had a pair of horns on either side. His gauntlets and greaves were significantly more profound, almost like Bass's.

"Zero," Omega snarled, "As I told you many years ago. I am the Dark Messiah, God of Destruction and heir to the power given by Dr. Wily, power you rebuked and I claimed as my own!" "What are you…talking about?" Zero asked as Elpizo eased beside him. "Zero," Elpizo began, "I don't like this, everything about him is different…he's even talking! And…his form! Zero, he…" "I know," Zero quickly said, "He looks like me…or…how I used to be." "What!?" "I don't know, Elpizo. All I do know is that this doesn't change anything. We still have a job to do, and that's defeating him. It doesn't matter what face he's wearing."

"That's the spirit, Zero," Omega replied with a sneer. A ripple ran down his image for a split second before he appeared in front of Elpizo and smashed a powerful backhand into the reploid commander, sending him careening through debris. "ELPIZO," Zero shouted, a rare break in his character, but Omega put an arm in the way. "This fight is between you and me, forget our loyalties and duties. There can only be one of us. WE FIGHT TO EXIST!"

Zero nodded, praying Elpizo would get up soon and at least be in some level of working order. He raised his saber, blade pointed downward in defense as the hilt raised near his eye as Omega dashed, deploying his Z-saber from his back and slashing down hard, looking to break Zero's defense in one strike, but the skilled warrior gripped the saber with the other hand and spun Omega's blade free, the blade wildly spinning in the air as it came down.

Zero brought his saber to Omega's neck, "You're slipping," he replied, but Omega's sneer didn't fade, merely growing in intensity as he quickly shoved his palm into Zero's chest. Zero's eyes bulged as the surprising force sent him sprawling across the dirt and he coughed as he struggled to get to his feet, too soon after the blow.

"Do you feel it, Zero? The difference in our powers?" Omega slowly closed the distance between him and his opponent, letting his saber lie in the ground. "This is power you gave up." "What are you talking about?" Zero asked, but Omega laughed before replying, "If you don't remember, there's no use wasting my time."

Omega raised his fist to the sky, white light glowing, as Zero dashed forward, saber extended. However, there was no warning as instead of punching him, Omega punched the ground, shouting, "GET READY!" A burst of energy shot free, burning through Zero's armor as he was catapulted away.

"Ngh…guh…gah!" These barely registered as words as Zero rolled in pain. Quickly, he noticed Omega had his saber again and was making a mad dash for the attack, and he forced himself to roll out of the way, not expecting Omega to smirk, shouting, "SOUL BODY!" Zero blinked and that was it, it was over. In the blink of an eye, shadows of Omega had rushed and slashed through Zero's armor, and all Zero could account to him still functioning is a well-built body.

Omega raised his saber to Zero. "All too easy," he said with a smirk that quickly twisted into a look of pain as he turned his head, laying eyes on Elpizo's saber, now embedded into his back. "You insolent little fool!" Omega howled as he slowly turned to Elpizo, the reploid not shrinking back, merely readying his weapon for another go. Omega loomed over him, a sinister smile on his face as he declared, "I'm going to wrap my hands around your head and crush it inbetween my fingers and…a-and…" Omega looked back, dark mist oozing out of his back.

Omega howled as the Dark Elf ripped from his body. Before Elpizo could make a noise, he fell back in pain as Crea and Prea appeared from his body. "We gave you power to be better than Zero, not to hurt Momma!" "How was I supposed to now?" Retorted Elpizo, while a confused Zero looked on. "Creaaaa…Preaaaaa…" the Dark Elf moaned as they circled around him. "Momma, we found you. We missed you, Momma."

Before they could continue, Omega reached out and claimed the Dark Elf for himself once more, ignoring the cries of the two baby elves. "If you're so concerned about your…_Momma_, than stick with me." They nodded before sparkling around Elpizo. "Come with us. We can still help each other." Elpizo shook his head, shouting, "I _REFUSE _to go with the likes of him and Weil!" Unfortunately for him, as they circled around him, they said, "We're sorry, but we still need your body."

He shouted in pain as his armor melted away, giving way to a more feral, skeletal form, completely white. His saber appeared in his hand as he laughed maniacally, turning towards the injured Zero. "Let's see who's the real hero," he said as he attacked.

As Zero fought to barely stave off two opponents and a constantly weakening Protoman was losing to an insane opponent of his own, a single orb watched, transmitting both battles back to a sinister Dr. Weil, who had a plan.

----------

Back at the Resistance, Ciel was growing increasingly worried with the silence, so she jumped when a beep ran through the communication array. "We're receiving a message," said the operator before she added, in a confused tone, "From…Dr. Weil." It took her a moment, but Ciel nodded as she said, "Bring it up."

Weil's sneer filled the screen as he laughed. "Good afternoon, Ms. Ciel. You're looking lovely as ever." She fought a shudder as she quickly said, "What do you want?" "So…without heart, I'm hurt. I just thought you'd like to see your men in action. I hear you're…quite taken with Zero, I figured you'd like to see his situation."

She frowned, telling him all he needed to know as the screen switched to dual settings. On the right, Protoman was leaning on his shield for balanced, heavily bruised, electricity crackling out of the stub that used to be his left arm. On the right, Zero was barely managing to stand as a crazed Elpizo and enraged Omega closed in on him.

"No," she whispered as the image turned back to Weil. "I don't think it takes a scientist with our IQ's to tell that they won't survive these encounters. I'm willing to make…a deal." Ciel remained silent as he continued. "Your…Ciel System, your so-called solution to the energy crisis…send me the schematics and I'll spare their pitiful lives." She glared as he laughingly added, "You have my word, or would you rather just let them die?"

Ciel moaned, silently saying, "Zero, forgive me." She pushed the operator aside as she lit up the keyboard with her typing. Before long, Weil smirked as he received a transmission and he replied, "Pleasure doing business with you." His face quickly vanished from the screen as Ciel began to cry.

----------

Thurisuz gripped Protoman, hands digging into his helmet as he laughed tyrannically. "Just a bit more, just a bit more and your head goes 'pop'! Doesn't that sound like fun!?" A beep caught his attention as Weil's voice said, "Thurisuz, that's enough. Come back." "Not yet, Papa, I haven't killed him yet! Just wait a little while longer!" "Thurisuz," Weil said, annoyed, "Now."

Thurisuz chucked Protoman to the ground, pointing at him as his body reverted to normal, his wild eyes flashing with life as he said, "You're lucky. Take this time to make your peace, because next time, I _WILL _kill you. Count on that. You don't deserve to survive." He looked off as he barked, "Send me!"

Protoman stumbled back and collapsed as Thurisuz vanished under the power of a trans-server. "H-hey…C-Ciel," he muttered, "I could…use some help here." Protoman quickly vanished.

----------

At the same time as Protoman's salvation, Omega grunted as he said, "You're lucky, Zero, the Doctor has declared that you get to live for another day. We'll finish this another time." "I'm coming with you," Elpizo announced, "For Momma." "Whatever," Omega said as he tapped his helmet, "Pull me back."

Elpizo put his arm to Omega's shoulder as the trans-server caught the reploid, bringing Elpizo through proximity. "Ciel," Zero coughed, "I could use some help, I don't think…I can move."

Zero blinked and he was back in the Resistance base, a worried Ciel hovering over him, reaching hysterics as medics came in and pushed her aside, taking him and Protoman down to the medical ward. As he shut down, he silently thanked the fact that Bass had just pulled off a daring run for medical supplies.

----------

"What the heck is this!?"

Fefnir raised his knuckle buster, ready to fight as Omega walked right by him and to Dr. Weil. "I'm confused as well," Harpuia said, but Weil laughed and waved them down. "You see Omega in his true form, relax, his loyalties haven't changed. Though, Zero must be growing ever-more powerful to have been able to break through that armor."

"I'm not going back," Omega declared, "That armor…restricts me, too much of my power and computational abilities. Don't worry, I can handle the power just fine." "Very well," Weil replied with a smirk.

"Oh come on," Fefnir shouted, "He leaves as an ogre, comes back as…ZERO!? This isn't right!" Fefnir turned to walk away, ignoring Harpuia's attempts to slow him down, only repeating, "This isn't right!"

"What about him?" Harpuia asked, pointing to Elpizo. "He's controllable, a…side effect of the Dark Elf's power." "I didn't see him touch that power," Harpuia replied, but Weil countered with, "He received it through her daughters. Don't worry, my children will keep an eye on him." Harpuia nodded, even if his face didn't agree, and he left.

Now alone with Omega and his children, Elpizo long since being detained until meeting with X, Weil looked to Thurisuz, "So, how did Bergelmir feel?" Thurisuz broke into a vicious smile as he replied, "It felt intense! I want more!" Weil laughed a little as he patted Thurisuz on the back, "All in good time, my boy. You too, Uruz, I bet you're just burning to try out Rapiecage."

Uruz crossed his arms as he answered, "Not so much as to do something as foolish as Thurisuz." "Hey, watch it!" Thurisuz snarled. "Both of you, relax," Weil calmly said. "Now that I have the Ciel system, it's time to move things along. I say we test our Dark Elf's recruitment ability. After all, look what it did for Elpizo, I wonder what it will do for Zero."

"We shouldn't work with him, just _DESTROY _him," Omega snapped, but Weil waved him down. "There will be plenty more to destroy, you can let one more go by. Put aside your personal grudge with Zero, he doesn't share it." Omega was silent for a while, but finally said, "Yes, Doctor."

"Papa," Uruz said, "How do you plan on even getting Zero to come in contact with the Dark Elf?" "I say it's time we use…that one," Weil remarked, "I lied, you know, he's perfectly operational and just ready to say hello to the world. Zero should be glad to see an old friend."

----------

Leviathan's eyes fluttered open and she sat up, then freaked when she realized she was dressed in a flimsy medical gown.

"Good, you're awake, _finally_."

Leviathan looked to see Bass sitting beside her. "You were asleep for so long, I was getting bored." She opened her mouth, but Cerveau entered, "Good she's up. You should thank Bass, by the way. He personally led the assault that got you the supplies that saved your life. Took a beating, too."

Leviathan looked over to Bass, noting that his arm was in a sling. He laughed as he said, "Yeah, I wrecked half the servos in my body, long story. I'm fine, he just stuck me in this stupid thing so I'd take it easy as my arm settles into the new parts." "I tell you," Cerveau added, "It was tough, Bass's body rejected the new components three times before I got them to work. He's a piece of work." He looked at them, smiling as he eased out of the room. "I'll leave you two alone."

"So, you saved me, huh?" Leviathan smiled, and when Bass scowled, she smiled brighter. "Yeah, ya know, I'd be kinda ticked if you died after I gave you the whole 'live for yourself' speech, so I'd be damned if I just sat by and let you go." Leviathan sat to the side of her bed, noting the cold temperature of the room as her bare legs dangled, and she swore she saw Bass blush before it vanished almost immediately.

"_Way to go, Doc," _Bass thought, _"You don't give me tearducts, but I can replicate blood vessels in my cheeks flooding, BRILLIANT, glad I overrode that before she noticed…"_

"You even sat by me while I was out, how sweet." Bass scoffed as he said, "Yeah, well things were too dramatic elsewhere. Zero and Protoman got themselves beaten pretty bad by some of Weil's guys. They're okay, but they took a hit to the ego, if you catch my drift. H-hey, easy!" Bass quickly said as Leviathan got to her feet.

"I'm fine," Leviathan said as she leaned on him, bringing her arms around his neck. "H-hey! What…what the heck do you think you're doing!?" Bass exclaimed as she locked eyes with him. "Just be quiet." Bass felt rage build in him, no one told him to shut up, not even if they were…going…to plant their lips on him.

Bass was speechless, his logic center racing to try to understand what was happening, trying to log this…attack. Sure, it didn't feel like an attack, it didn't hurt, it was…pleasurable, after all, it was his first, serious kiss. Still, it put him at a loss for words or action, this was, indeed, a dangerous weapon.

Lost in their moment, neither noticed Roll, looking for Bass, gasping at the sight and leaving as silently as she entered, fighting a sniffle.

----------

Ending Notes: Interesting plot-heavy chapter, eh? If you're wondering, there's only about 3-4 chapters left in this. That's because I sorta want to split it into two parts, and part one will end soon enough, part two puts some time between events, so I hope you look into that one as well.

A few notes, one, no more Super Robot Taisen Characters for a while at least. Honestly, they make things easier when it comes to adding new content for the sake of plot, but I have all I need.

Thurisuz and Uruz act very close to their original attitudes, yes , Thurisuz is nuts. Like they referred to their creator in the Original Generation 2 game, Egrett Feff, as Papa, they call Weil their Papa. You gotta admit, it sounds creepier than 'Father'.

Notice the names Thrudgelmir and Bergelmir from the last and current chapter respectively? Yep, it's Norse Mythology. Bergelmir is son of Thrudgelmir, son of Aurgelmir, the first giant. All giants died except for Bergelmir and his wife and they started a new race of frost giants. It's similar in regard to Thurisuz and Uruz being the first of their new kind, fifth generation reploids.

Onto the generation of reploids, we all know that the copy reploids are second generation. I just said Omega, meaning his armor, was third and that Harpuia and the like were fourth to show a progression of technology. Technically, reploids are based off of X…excluding said X and Zero…in a way, they sorta are Robot Masters. Well…now that Zero's mind is in a reploid body…that makes Omega the Robot Master.

As far as Omega went…yeah, I skipped the three-headed fusion form. (Ya know, freakin' giant, his head in the middle, X and Zero's heads as shoulders for arms, one with a giant buster, the other with a saber…) In a game, that looks cool and imposing. In a story like this, it's completely useless.

If you paid attention in Megaman Zero 3 and Megaman ZX, both times you fight Omega in Zero's original body. Both times the original body is revealed, he shouts, "_Ware wa meshia nari!_" which translates into "I am the messiah!" If you note, in Megaman Zero and Legends, there is a rather obscure reference to a God of Destruction. I think this hints to the fact that said God of Destruction is Omega.

Finally, as far as Omega goes, since he's in Zero's original body…I put him in Zero's actual original body and not…a darker shade red replica of Zero's copy body. In the Official Complete Works book, it's said that Zero's new look was to make him seem more human, something Weil honestly more than likely doesn't care about…nor would Wily himself. Not to mention that the normal Zero looks far more imposing than Zero's copy body. Thus, being in the original body, I made him use attacks Zero used in the X series.

Finally…well I think that's it, aside from Bass kissing Leviathan, I'm not sure how I led up to it, but meh. Though, be warned, if you think I've made a decision on Bass with Leviathan versus Bass with Roll, think again.

Until next time!


	7. Chapter 7

Some Author's Notes: Welcome to the next chapter! Things are beginning to come to a head and there's only one chapter left after this, and bam, part one is complete!

I'd like to thank everyone for their comments!

I'd also like to warn you that some parts of this may seem creepy.

Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own Megaman characters, that's all Capcom.

Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own Super Robot Taisen characters, that's all Banpresto.

----------

Standing alone atop the roof of the Resistance Base, Zero sighed as he looked on the splendor of the twilight sky. Ever since he had awoken to this post-apocalyptic nightmare of a world, he had always been on edge. Every night he looked around, he reminded himself that he had no memories of his past life, yet somehow, he couldn't shake the feeling that somehow, he had a hand in making this world.

As time went by, some things came back to him. He could remember his intense training under Sigma, then putting that training to the test, time and time again. He could remember helping X—the real one—in countless battles. Still, the weirdest memory of all came in his sleep; a girl in a red and blue dress with brown hair that had the sweetest voice to him. Every time he had that dream, he woke up, crying, and could never understand why. While on a whole, he figured it wasn't too important right now, it was still slowly digging at him.

Keen senses always about him, he turned to face the floating form of his friend, X. "How are you, Zero?" X gently asked. "I can't complain," Zero replied, "though I guess I'm a bit frustrated. You can only go so long without your memory before it starts to drive you nuts." X looked down as he shook his head, saying, "I'm sorry about that, Zero. I'm so sorry. I wish I could do something to help you."

Zero shrugged, "I'll get used to it eventually, I figure. Though, there's one thing you can do for me." X looked to his friend and said, "Anything." Stoic, Zero asked, "Why does Omega look like me?"

Grimace on his face, X locked eyes with Zero. "It was a long time ago, nearly a century. The Maverick Wars were always tough, but things were getting out of hand. The fighting just continued to escalate and with you out of action, we were losing ground." X could already see the question in Zero's eyes and added, "You had gone into shutdown so that a component in your body could be removed. It's too complicated to go into details, just know that we never did remove it."

"Component?" Zero asked, confused before he gripped his head.

_"Destroy him. He is my enemy. That is all you need to know, now go, crush him."_

"Zero?" X gently asked, "Are you alright?" "Y-yeah," Zero weakly replied as he steadied himself. "I just remembered something, is all…I think." "Yes," X began, "Well, while you were offline, we were performing research on your body. After all, we really had no idea how to remove that part. While we did, we had to remove your consciousness from your body. We just didn't want to risk you waking up while we were working on you. Unfortunately, Dr. Weil was in the employ of the Maverick Hunters and managed to input a new personality into your body. That was Omega. Afterwards, he began to wreak havoc all over the planet. I tried to fight him off by myself, but it was no good. Then…you showed up in a brand new body."

Looking off, X chuckled. "We wrote it off to the public that we had built a copy body for you, so that you could fight, but do you want to know the truth? We have no idea how you got a new body. Your programming had been dumped into our mainframe and was heavily encrypted. No one could have broken it that fast, let alone given you a new body."

"Then how—" Zero started, but X could only shake his head. "I don't know, Zero. Ever since you first came online, someone's been watching you. You…died…in the first Maverick War and I managed to get your parts, but we didn't know what to do. Then, somehow, we received a layout of your blueprints. It wasn't detailed or anything, but it was enough to put you back together."

Zero blinked in amazement. Someone was keeping an eye on him? Just how closely?

"Do you remember Dr. Cain?" X asked. "Vaguely," Zero replied. "Well, after we rebuilt you, he was the one that gave you your saber, but it wasn't his idea. In the schematics we were sent, it showed that weapon was part of your complement."

X gulped deeply as he continued, about to recite one of his most painful memories. "You died again in the fifth war and…so did I, but while my creator was always there to help me, you didn't have the same. So while I was repaired, you were damaged beyond all hope, but…there you were again in the sixth war, like nothing had ever happened. More surprising was the fact that not only did you have a new saber, but you were stronger than ever."

"So," Zero began, "I have a guardian angel, huh?" "Does it sound comforting?" X asked. "Not really, more disturbing, if anything. It's the kind of thing that works your paranoia, you know?" X laughed a little before saying, "I guess. So, tell me, how are you getting along with Bass?" "We fight well enough together." X smiled a little as he said, "That's not what I asked."

Zero sighed as he said, "I haven't spent too much time around him. After all, it's sort of awkward. I was built to replace him. Would you want to hang around your replacement?" "I suppose not," X acquiesced, "But still, he is your brother, you two should try to spend _SOME _time together." "Maybe," Zero said, "But tell me, be truthful. How long are you for this world?"

Staring at his feet, X replied, "Not long. It's getting harder to stay manifest with each passing day. Pretty soon, I'll be at rest." Depression sunk into Zero's voice as he asked, "Is it because of…" "Yeah, I've been away from my body for too long."

"Why don't you two stop being little babies about it and try putting him back _IN _his body."

Both figured turned to the brimstone glare of Bass, arms folded as he spat, "Y'know, I came out here to _RELAX_, not find that my spot's been taken." "I'll leave," Zero coldly replied, as he turned to walk off.

"That's right," Bass said, "Walk away, both of you, a pair of losers. Heh, no wonder you got your butt kicked as badly as you did, Zero. If that's your take on things, what the hell do you even fight for? And you, oh 'great' Megaman X. You make me sicker than Zero does. At least he still fights."

"Bass, this isn't the time," Zero began to say, but Bass growled under his breath as he interrupted. "Oh it's never the time, is it? Zero, the great, emo hero who's so full of his own self-inflicted angst that he can't get over himself." Puzzled, Zero asked, "How much of our conversation did you hear?"

Bass spat out, "Enough to know that somehow, I don't know how, but still, Wily's been managing to keep his eye on you. And you, _X_, why don't you tell me why the hell you're even out and floating around like a stupid ghost."

"Bass, stop it," Zero said, but X calmly said, "It's okay Zero. Bass, very few know this, but the Dark Elf used to be called the Mother Elf. Weil was one of the ones who helped develop it and I used its power to stop the Maverick wars, once and for all. Unfortunately, reploids simply lusted for the power of the Mother Elf and her children, cyber elves. Worst of all was Omega and Weil. I understood then, that all my actions had done was prolong the fighting. I took it upon myself to seal the newly christened Dark Elf into my body, forever serving as a prison. It seemed a fitting punishment for myself. After all, it was my fault."

"So," Bass started, "That's it, huh? What a load of crap. You decided to play the noble sacrifice. Surprise, loser. That stuff only works in movies and fan fictions, it doesn't even work in real stories anymore. It sounds more like to me that you just gave up, well good. You'd be a liability in your mindset anyways. I mean, your predecessor was a total dweeb, and don't get me wrong, I hate his little guts, but at least he never stopped fighting."

Zero looked to Bass, harshness in his eyes as he barked, "Knock it off!" "Please, Zero," X said, "It's fine. I'm just so tired, that's all, so very tired. Years of endless fighting, and no matter what I did, it never got any better." "Feh," Bass shot, "So you gave up and made Zero do the fighting for you. Way to go, you sound just like Wily, making someone else fight FOR you. Oh wait, Wily actually would get off his lazy rump and fight when he had to, I guess that makes him better than you."

"Bass…I…" X started to say as Bass turned around and walked away, waving nonchalantly as he said, "Stow it, dwee-no, I can't even call you that. Just sit on your butt and fade into nothingness for all I care. Continue to force others to fight because you don't have the guts to. Like I said, it's probably better that way."

As Bass left them, Zero turned to his companion and said, "Look, X, what he said…" "No, don't worry about it, Zero. I…have to go now."

As X faded away, Zero sighed, first angrily, then it grew longer and more depressed. "Bass and X…so…different."

----------

"Wake up, the world needs you again. It's time to rise, Axl."

With a sinister sneer, Weil cooed the young reploid into awakening, taking glee as he slowly opened his eyes. "Huh, where…where am I?" he asked. Weil put his arms behind his back as he answered, "You're in my lab in Neo Arcadia. How do you feel after almost a century of inactivity?" "I…feel fine, I guess, but a little different. What…is going on?"

Axl took note that he was lying in a capsule and got to his feet, noticing his armor. The black was white while the red stripes were blue. He could guess that the rest of his armor resembled his slight possession by Lumine, all those years ago, and he jumped.

"Easy, my boy," Weil said, "Don't worry about your appearance. You won't have to worry about going Maverick. Your appearance is merely the effect of the Dark Elf's power over you. I used her to revive you. We could use your…unique abilities once more." In a grand wave of his outstretched hands, in his sappiest tone, Weil said, "The world needs saving once more and only you can help X."

Axl blinked. "X is here?" "Yes," Weil replied, "This _IS _his city, after all. He's finally managed to make a utopia for humans here, unfortunately, there are a few Mavericks outside our walls that would bring it all crashing down and unfortunately, X lacks the vicious nature required to exterminate them."

Looking at Weil, he asked, "What makes you think I can help?" "Your skills made you the perfect assassin, you had no worry in your mind when you pulled the trigger, you can be just what X needs to save his city and all its inhabitants from the dangers of the rogue scientist, Ciel and her slowly growing team of Mavericks…led by Zero."

"No way!" A started Axl exclaimed. "There's no way that Zero's a Maverick!" "It's true, I'm afraid, and poor Master X has been trying his best to avoid fighting his dear and closest friend, but as of late, Zero's managed to gain powerful allies, and it's only a matter of time before he goes insane and tries to destroy us all."

As Axl's mind ran all this through his head, Omega, wearing Zero's face, as it were, entered. "Doctor, we have positive result scans from Sector Z95. The Resistance is excavating some type of ruin."

Almost falling over, Axl pointed to Omega. "You said Zero was a Maverick! Here he is, right in my face! What game are you trying to play with me!?" Weil coughed a little before patting Axl on the head like a child. "Dear boy, many things have happened. What you see is not Zero, but another reploid that just happens to be inhabiting his body. This is Omega. Of course, you can verify all this with Master X."

"This is the reploid?" Omega asked. "Yes, marvelous design, isn't he? Short-range flight capable with a light, yet durable armor build, allowing him to use his maneuverability to augment his combat skills." "He doesn't look like much," Omega replied, gaining a scowl from Axl, but Weil laughed, saying, "You don't know his true ability. He's the only remaining second generation reploid on the entire planet. Do you know what that means? He's the only one capable of transforming into any other reploid. All he needs is some basic data and the image of the target, and viola, he's wearing your face."

He would have continued, but Uruz entered, dragging Thurisuz. "Papa," Uruz said, "Something's wrong with him." Thurisuz was gripping his arm, wincing in pain. Weil perked an eyebrow as he said, "I see, maybe Bergelmir was just too much for him. Enter your capsule and initiate a full diagnostic and I'll get to you when the moment arises." "Y-yes Papa," Thurisuz managed to say as he walked to the end of the lab and entered a capsule.

"Uruz, meet Axl, he should be able to give us some much-needed assistance with Zero." Axl looked to Weil before stating, "I won't fight with Zero. I just can't." "Well then it's your lucky day," Weil said, because I plan not to destroy him, but cure him of his ailment, that dreaded Maverick virus. You see, all we need to do is introduce him to the Dark Elf, the very one that revived you. Then he'll be all better, you'll see."

Omega scoffed as he replied, "Zero's not just going to stand still and let you do that, you know." "Yes," Weil said with a nod, "That's why I have a plan. Zero may not remember much about himself, but I remember it all."

----------

"Stupid Bass," Roll muttered to herself as she sat in her tiny room. "Stupid Leviathan too. She just had to come into our lives, didn't she? What does he see in her anyways? What the heck do I even see in Bass?"

She fell back on her bed and rubbed dry eyes as she sighed and began to admit defeat. "Me and Bass? Hah, that's a laugh. It never would have worked out. We'd always end up arguing, always at each other's throats. Besides…she's pretty…"

Self consciousness kicked in. "Prettier than me…and well endowed. Not to mention she's funny and intelligent. Not to mention that she never argues with him. HAH! They might as well be perfect for each other!"

A light knock on her door caught her attention and she answered it, greeting Ciel. She grumbled on the inside, aware that she'd spent some time crying and rubbing at her eyes, which were now very red.

"I hope you don't mind my intruding," Ciel said, "Alouette said you looked a little down and frankly, you don't look so well. Is anything the matter?" "No," Roll lied as she shook her head. A sympathetic smile graced Ciel's face as she said, "You don't have to lie to me. I'm your friend. You can talk to me about anything."

"It's boy trouble," Roll explained. "Bass?" Asked Ciel to the now surprised Roll who fought against a blush and failed miserably. "It's okay, it's not that hard to figure out. But…why Bass, anyways?" Roll looked to Ciel and retorted, "Why Zero?"

"Okay," Ciel admitted, "Neither one of us seems to have the best choice in men. Still, I don't know. First, I was just sorry for him. All that hard work he had put into making the world a better place and he has to wake up…to this, a world I partly created. As time went by, we just grew closer. I mean, in public, Zero's a cold, emotionless warrior, but with me, he opens up and talks to me, but only when we're alone." Ciel smiled to herself as she said, "He relaxes around me, and that makes me happy."

Roll laughed to herself as she replied, "I wish it was so sweet between me and Bass. All we ever do is argue with each other, but then again, what can you expect? Our creators were polar opposites. Still, it's funny, he tries not to show it, but a lot of times, him and my brother are a lot alike. I mean it's a bit twisted, but Bass does have his own sense of honor and justice. Deep down, he manages to do what's right, and that's a bit surprising. Still, we got zapped here in the future and he's really the only one who knows what things were like for us. Sure, Protoman does too, but he's my brother, I'd never think of him like that."

"So," Ciel began, "What's the problem?" Roll sighed as she replied, "Leviathan. She's so much more forceful than me. She can move quicker and a few hours ago, I walked in on them…kissing." "Oh?" Ciel asked with surprise. "I can't compete with her," Roll explained. "I just don't know what to do."

Ciel beamed that smile of hers again as she replied, "Don't try to compete with her. This isn't some contest where Bass is…a rather questionable prize. Just tell him how you feel. Don't leave anything out. Don't try to be like Leviathan or anything, just be yourself. Besides, we both know how forceful Leviathan can be. She probably forgot to even mention liking him."

To the comment, the two girls soon burst into giggles and Roll certainly felt better.

----------

Bass affixed his helmet, freshly retrieved from Cerveau. It was the early morning now and he'd just gotten a comm system placed in his helmet. Now, like Zero, he could get in contact with the Resistance base at any time he saw fit…just in case he had another situation like the day before, where he barely managed to teleport himself back to the base. "Where's Protoman?" He asked.

Cerveau straightened his visor as he replied, "He wanted to see about an upgrade." "An upgrade?" Bass asked, confused. "Yes," Cerveau confirmed, "Something about how badly he lost to Thurisuz and his Bergelmir combined with the fact that he's actually the oldest living piece of technology on the planet really got to him. He's offline at the moment, but it shouldn't take long, maybe a couple hours. You should be impressed."

"Impressed with Protoman?" Bass asked, incredulously. "Don't make me laugh."

Leaving Cerveau to his work, Bass entered the command room, always ready for a fresh development. Unfortunately, while the news was new, it certainly wasn't fresh.

"You should be happy," Ciel said as she hoisted a backpack. "The ruins are from your time period." Ever the researcher, Ciel was dressed in khaki shorts and a tan top, ready to give her workers a hand.

"You mean to tell me that Weil's gaining power by the day, you're under constant threat of the Fake Dweeb, and your own BOSS just went turncoat and you're going to go dig in the sand?"

Ciel sighed as she put a cap on her head. "Bass, it's not all about violence. Even Neo Arcadia takes timeouts to just look for stuff from the past. After all, we have some HUGE gaps in history and it'd be really great to eventually fill them. Why don't you come along? Roll and Alouette already left. Treble even left with them. It's going to be a slow day, anyways. Protoman's in for an upgrade and Leviathan still needs time to recover, so come on, it'll be fun."

Looking off, Bass mumbled, "That damn mutt, just walk off, why don't you? Oh sure, don't tell me you're going somewhere..." It was around then that Ciel, a look of curiosity, asked, "A couple of us were wondering...how do you understand Treble? All we ever get are barks and howls, while you carry out complete conversations with him." Bass shrugged as he replied, "I dunno, probably just some software that crazy old man I have for a creator installed. I can't complain."

Satisfied, Ciel stood on the trans-server pad before asking, "Are you coming or not?" Bass sighed as he slumped his shoulders, walking onto the pad with, "Sure, why not?"

Bass blinked and before he knew it, he was under the harsh rays of the sun, standing outside in the endless desert that was the world. People were everywhere, digging and moving mounds of dirt, exposing some kind of structure.

"Don't bother with that," Ciel said, "Check it out over here." Tugging at Bass, she dragged him to a cliff and as he stared down, he had to whistle. Large pillars and cracked buildings were revealed, weathered by years of dirt and decay. "This is some large scale operation you have going here," he commented before he heard, "Ciel, Bass, you made it!"

Turning, Bass laid eyes on Roll, dressed like Ciel. The girl in question puffed her cheeks like she seemed to do so often and asked Bass, "Would it have killed you to change out of that armor just once?" A little bewildered at first, Bass answered, "Actually, I think my chances of being killed go UP without the armor." "Still," Roll continued, "Aren't you hot in that?" "Not really," Bass commented before looking around.

He eventually set his eyes on Treble and Alouette. It occurred to him that they were spending a lot of time with each other, but maybe it was for the best. After all, she'd gotten captured beforehand, Bass figured any Pantheon would think twice about nabbing her with his feral wolf companion.

At the moment, Treble was busy digging his paws into the dirt with a clapping Alouette cheering him on, so Bass looked off, feeling familiarity dig at him. "This place is so familiar," he said to himself before someone screamed. "It's okay!" Someone yelled back, "He just fell through a trap door! Stay away from the tiles with skulls on them!"

"Skulls?" Bass asked no one in particular. "Why does this place look so familiar?" He watched as a replica of Gutsman was pulled free. He recognized it as Wily's mass-produced model and things were starting to make sense. Finally, as Treble freed a toy soldier from the dirt, Bass grew wide-eyed as he shouted, "AH, HELL NO! This is _CLOWNMAN'S _stupid stage!"

"See," Began Ciel, "I told you it was from your time. I thought you might enjoy it." "You thought wrong," Bass declared. "I couldn't STAND that miserable excuse for a Robot Master! Any bot who thinks he's important because his damn ARMS STRETCH has a bolt loose or six! HELL! About two hours before Megaman attacked the castle and we got blasted into the stupid future, he played a prank on me and dumped a bucket of coolant on my head! I'm freaking out of here!"

As he turned away and prepared to teleport, Roll closed the distance between them and stared into his eyes with a sincerity he hadn't paid attention to before. Softly, she asked, "Stay? With me?" Bass could feel a blush coming on, like last time, but luckily for him, he'd hacked the encryptions behind that little action and overrode it this time.

Quickly regretting her action, Roll turned her back to Bass and said, "Well I mean, if it makes you that mad, I guess you should go, but I mean…you know…" "Whatever," Bass said as he crossed his arms. "The first accident and I'm out of here. I'll be damned if he manages to pull a prank on me, 200 years in the future!"

Roll smiled inwardly as she watched a grumbling Bass sit down. Before long, Treble came to him, looking for attention with that toy soldier hanging out of his mouth. "Give me that…" Bass groaned before he yanked it free of Treble's maw and chucked it into the distance.

Roll sat next to him before asking, "Is he really that bad? Clownman, I mean." Bass only removed his helmet and pointed to his white hair before saying, "Yes, he's really that bad! I used to have _RED _hair! Like my eyes! Then Clownman got to it!" Roll sighed a little before leaning on his shoulder, an action that made him stiffen, as she replied, "Well the white hair looks good on you."

Bass huffed, but Roll retrieved something from her pocket. "I think this might look good on you too." Bass looked and saw her offer a purple scarf. "No thanks," he said, "Reminds me too much of Protoman." "I knitted his too," Roll said, "I just like to have a piece of me with him, since I can't fight with him. I thought I could do the same with you." Bass sighed as he said, "Not that I don't appreciate it, but still, no thanks."

As time drawled on, Bass was getting consistently bored. Playing around in the dirt just wasn't his thing. Still, he was impressed with how long Clownman's fortress of a funhouse managed to survive in such good condition after all these years. Even if he was a bloody moron, Wily certainly knew how to build things. Other than finally making it to the inside of the miniature fortress, all Bass could note as happening was Zero arriving. The two stared at each other for a moment, but like all moments, it came and passed and they went about their separate businesses.

"You know," Began Roll as she put down a shovel and wiped a little dirt from her face, "You could try helping out instead of just sitting and watching." Bass smirked as he replied, "Or, because I freakin' hated Clownman, I could just sit here and let you guys figure out what goes through his head."

Soon, a yell was heard, followed by a deafening thud. Ever ready for action, Bass shot up and followed the noises into the inner corridors of Clownman's stage, only to run into Zero, equally ready to investigate. "I don't have to talk to you, do I?" Bass asked. "Just focus on whatever that noise was," Zero ordered.

Bass grunted in recognition before they appeared before a shuttered door. "Oh great, just what I needed today," Bass said with annoyance. "I thought you liked to fight," Zero replied, but Bass shot, "I thought we didn't have to talk to each other."

Bass opened the shuttered door and entered, Zero following, and they came face-to-face with their threat. "I don't believe it," Bass said. Rusted and cracking apart, it was a large wheel with the face of a teddy bear implanted in the middle. "Clownman's pathetic excuse for a midboss still works?"

Almost puzzled, Zero spotted two scientists, pinned down by toy soldiers and he muttered, "You have got to be kidding me." Regardless, Zero quickly freed the scientists, who didn't have to be told twice to get out of the area. Meanwhile, Bass dodged the wheel's attempt to ram into him and noted how long it took to ready itself again.

"Old and forgotten, you're still trying to guard this place. Lie in the dirt like everything else!" Bass dashed forward, slamming his buster into its face, and let loose a powerful shot, point blank. As it collapsed, Bass smirked. Even without centuries of disrepair, he doubted it would have been much more of a problem, after all, it couldn't even beat Megaman, it just slowed him down for a couple minutes.

"Well that was a waste of time," Bass commented as Zero tapped his helmet. "Ciel, this is Zero, situation contained. Be advised that there might be more security systems in place." Bass was about to comment when a faint, but distinct hum was heard and the entire building slowly came to life.

"Someone started up the power," Bass said to himself as Zero looked around. As his eyes scanned the surroundings, he saw that familiar girl from his dreams and he lost his breath for a second. "Zero," was all she said before backing and seemingly fading away. "Wait!" Zero cried with an outstretched hand before running after her.

"What? HEY!" Bass shouted as he heard a click, then a buzz. "Bass, Zero, what happened?" Ciel must have been worried, and Bass, lacking tact, angrily replied, "The stupid base seems to still have a working generator and Zero ran off after some girl!"

"He…did?" She slowly replied, a hint of concern coupled by hurt, but Bass wasn't interested in that. "Relax," He said, "I'll bring him back." He ran after his brother, but quickly fell through a trap door, screaming, "CLOWNMAAAAAAAAAN!" as he plummeted to the bottom.

"I hope that little fall didn't hurt too badly," A voice said as Bass fell on his butt. "Didn't hurt nearly as bad as how I'm going to hurt you," Bass declared, "That is, of course, if you had anything to do with that." "I'm afraid I did," the voice replied, "Please, call me Uruz, I won't be as rude as my brother. Still, there's a plan in motion and you can't be allowed to interfere."

"A plan, huh? How'd you even sneak past everyone?" "Scientists are often so involved in their work that they ignore the world around them," Uruz calmly replied. "Now, Bass, I hope you're prepared." Bass chuckled as he stated, "I'm always prepared, if you're looking for a fight."

"Good, good, RAPIECAGE, ACTIVATE!"

Bass shielded his eyes as his opponent burst into an orb of green light. As it died down, Bass laid eyes on his armored opponent. Rapiecage meant patchwork, and that's certainly what he looked like, as if armor parts were just shoved onto his body. Large, jutting, gray shoulders with black trim and clunky looking feet with verniers literally shoved onto the back started the look. A pair of long, almost rectangular wings that ended with curved blades were on his back. Two horns jutted from the head, one larger and thicker than the other. On his left wrist was a five-barreled cannon. On the right, a trio of sharp blades. He reached behind his back and revealed a stout cannon.

"Oxtongue rifle, B mode." Uruz fired his rifle at Bass, sending ballistic shells toward his opponent, who wasted no time in dodging, but Uruz calmly said, "Straight into E mode." His wings raised upwards and gathered energy before a large, piercing shot ripped from the Oxtongue and grazed Bass as he rolled out of the way.

----------

"Where'd she go?" Zero asked himself, now lost in the questionable funhouse. As he walked along the corridor, a comm. system beeped. "Zero," Omega hissed through the speakers, "I know you can hear me."

"What do you want, Omega? Now's not the time." "You wound me, Zero. I was just going to tell you a little story. I thought you might find it interesting." The wall to Zero's left slid down and revealed a staircase. "Do I have a choice?" Zero asked. "Not really." Omega replied as Zero marched up the stairs and into a new room, filled with mirrors.

"Welcome to the stage, you should like the story. It's of honor, betrayal, and of course, love." Omega said as an image played on the mirrors. Zero saw a knight in white armor with an army behind him. Behind them, a large man in green, wearing a crown. On the other side, two knights, one in blue, the other red, with a much smaller army behind them.

"Long ago," Omega started, "There were two kingdoms that lived together in harmony." Soon the small army faded away and a shadowed man appeared next to the king on the other side. "One day, through his wicked advisor, the king of…let's say the land of R, declared war on the other kingdom, the… land of MH. Leading his army was his powerful white knight."

The image became the white knight, the red knight, and the blue one before a single female appeared. "While the blue knight fought his own path, the red knight crossed swords with the white one many times. Still, they never settled their differences because of the white knight's sister, a beautiful maiden. The white knight stopped because of his deep care of his sister and her feelings. The red one, however, stopped because of his love for her."

Zero's head was beginning to hurt as the maiden appeared in between the white and red knights with pleading eyes and they put down their swords. "Still, she knew she couldn't stop them forever and in one final, dramatic battle of wills, the red knight struck down the white one."

The image showed the red knight piercing the white one with his saber and the maiden looking on, horrified. "Now, grief-stricken over the loss of her brother, to the one she loved, no less, she knew what she had to do. She sold her soul for the power to fight." Darkness surrounded the girl in the image as she appeared before the red knight. "It hurt, oh how it hurt, but the knight had his duty. He had to protect his kingdom, and even with all her power, she couldn't compare to his combat experience. She too, fell to his blade and she died in his arms."

Zero gripped his head in pain as images began to float through his mind. Omega's words were all so familiar, and he felt like he lived this story. The maiden…the girl in his dreams…were they the same? Was that why he would wake up, crying?

"While the red knight defeated both his rival and his own lover, the blue knight toppled the king, and the war was seemingly over. Unfortunately, the king's wicked advisor played his hand, proving that everyone merely played the parts of pawns in his little game. The white knight, the king, and the maiden? Their deaths meant nothing. Filled with hatred and vengeance, the red knight stormed the Kingdom of R and slew the advisor, in the end, truly accomplishing absolutely nothing, because the advisor would survive to return again…and again…and yet again."

Not just an image, but the girl, herself appeared. "I-Iris?" Zero asked. "That's right," Omega sneered. "It's coming back to you, isn't it? Colonel and his sister, Iris. Repliforce and the Maverick Hunters. Sigma. It's all becoming so clear, eh? Then you know the truth, that you killed her." "N-no," Zero said as he fell to his knee, the girl walking towards him. "Yes," Omega retorted, "You killed her. You're nothing but a war machine, like myself."

Zero looked up at the girl, her arms open to him as she whispered, "Zero, it's alright." He slowly got up and looked her in the eyes. "Iris…" "Shh," she replied, "It's okay." She embraced him and they hugged tightly. "Zero?" "Yes? Iris?" The girl sighed as she replied, "Sorry for this, it was for your own good." "What?"

A burst of light and Iris was no more, instead, it was Axl. "What's going on!?" Zero shouted as he tried to back away. He failed to do so as mist seeped from Axl and into Zero, the Dark Elf rising out of his body and into Zero's. "Like I said, sorry."

Zero writhed in pain as he collapsed. Convulsing, the black of his armor turned white as the red went black. His hair followed through, almost bleached. Omega stepped from the shadows, a look of disappointment on his face as he declared , "Well that was too easy. Get up, Zero. Weil is waiting."

Slowly, Zero got to his feet, a blank stare in his face as he nodded.

----------

Bass leapt back from a trio of rifle rounds as he fired his buster at Uruz, doing little damage. "Is that all you've got?" Uruz asked, "How sad. Let me end your suffering." He readied his right hand and with the shout, "Magnum break!" He dashed forward into Bass, slamming the trio of blades into his opponent's chest, thoroughly surprised at how it barely managed to sink through the chest armor.

Regardless, Uruz let his boosters burst to life and he pushed hard and upward, ramming Bass through the ceiling and straight up into the desert, before the blades glowed and burst forward into Bass with an explosion, knocking the Robot Master back.

"Bass!" Shouted Roll as she finally laid eyes on him after so long. As she rushed to him, he pushed her away and shouted, "Come on, Uruz! Give me all you've got!" "Gladly, fool," Uruz replied as he dashed for Bass, who jumped over and away from him.

"What's he doing?" Roll asked as Ciel walked beside her. "He's leading the enemy away and giving us time to evacuate! Everyone, return to base, that's an order!" Quickly, scientists abandoned their research and began to huddle together as the trans-server caught them.

Gingerly, Treble removed Alouette from his back as he rushed to Bass, his master chuckling as he said, "It's about time. Come on, Treble!" His wolf companion complied with the order, leaping into the sky as a burst of howling purple light that merged with Bass, granting him the powers of Gospel, once more.

"Finally serious, huh?" Uruz replied, "Good."

They took to the sky, clashing with terrible force that could be felt on the ground. "Be careful," Roll said silently as Bass stumbled back and let a powerful stream of energy rip from his buster, colliding with Uruz's armor, but not making a dent.

"What the hell's he made of?" Bass asked himself as Uruz slammed into him, and pressed him deep into the ground, the barrel of his Oxtongue rifle in Bass's face. "DIE!" "Don't you touch him!" Roll's voice shouted as she slammed a shovel into Uruz's back. "Get out of my sight," Uruz responded as he swatted her away.

"Big mistake," Bass stated as he pushed Uruz off, "Just for that, I'm going to crush you into dust and scatter you to the winds!" "Unlikely, you can't even damage me," Uruz calmly replied. "Tch," Bass said as he realized Uruz was right.

_"What the hell do I do?"_

**OPTION: HOWLING GOSPEL CANNON **

Bass blinked, "What the hell is that? Something Wily shoved in me?"

**NEGATIVE, ATTACK WAS CREATED DUE TO COMBAT DATA AND THE CONTINUING NEED TO DELIVER MORE DAMAGE. PRO: CHANCE OF VICTORY AT 99.75 PERCENT. CON: COMBAT SYSTEMS WILL BE FORCED INTO COOLDOWN CYCLE **

"Looks like I don't have a choice, I'll have to give it my best shot! You hear me, Uruz!? You're going down!" "Hah," Uruz said with a smirk as he confidently closed his eyes, "Try all you might, I won't even move." "You're just full of big mistakes, huh? ENGAGE HOWLING GOSPEL CANNON!"

Several wires shot from his waist and sank into the ground as his wings folded to his back and straight into the ground.

**PYLONS SECURE, SUPPORT STRUTS SET **

His right arm switched to the buster, then glowed before it became Treble's head. Six crystals formed around the new weapon, slowly spinning and picking up speed as power was drawn in from his back and energy charged with a distinct noise that reminded Bass of a growl.

**ENERGY CHARGE AT 120 PERCENT, READY TO FIRE **

"ALRIGHT TREBLE! HOWL! HOWL, AND SEND HIM STRAIGHT TO HELL!"

A powerful burst of energy, the likes of which Bass never guessed possible, shot from his buster with a rather appropriate howling noise.

The howling noise, combined with the incoming heat made Uruz open his eyes and shift to total dread. "What…WHAT IS THIS!?" "Like I said," Bass shouted, "IT'S YOUR ONE-WAY TICKET TO HELL!"

They say that when you meet your death, things seem to slow down. In reality, it's the brain's perception and interpretation of information being put on second priority while the body focuses on protecting more vital things. That's not the case for a reploid as advanced as Uruz, he was aware of every moment.

"GAAAHHH!!" he shouted as the Rapiecage armor broke away before the searing heat of the blast melted the skin away from his face and his arm shattered away from the rest of his body. Soon, his entire body crumbled away into nothingness.

"Another one bites the dust," Bass smirked, his fusion with Treble instantly reversing.

**BUSTER IN COOLDOWN CYCLE! **

**GOSPEL BOOST IN COOLDOWN CYCLE! **

**ENEMY DATA FUNCTION IN COOLDOWN CYCLE! **

**COPY DATA FUNCTION IN COOLDOWN CYCLE! **

Normally, after a victory, Bass would be okay with it, but before he knew it, Omega's fist connected with him and he went flying. "So Uruz failed, no matter," Omega spat as Zero and Axl walked beside him.

"What's going on?" A bewildered Bass asked. "Zero's with us now. Prepare to die!" As Omega reached for Bass, Roll stepped in between them. "Don't touch him!" She shouted as Omega lifted her off the ground. Bass growled as he got to his feet, but was knocked down again by Zero. "Hey, Omega," Axl said. "Weil said we should save Bass too."

"Save him," Omega spat, "Disgusting. Though, if he thinks of Bass so highly, let's see the truth." As he yanked Roll, he looked to Bass. "You'll know where to find us." A burst of white light, and a trans-server grabbed Omega, Axl, Zero, and Roll.

"…DAMN IT!" Bass roared as Roll's new scarf settled beside him. "Are you alright," Ciel asked, but he waved her off and said, "Yeah, just fine. Look, send me into Neo Arcadia, NOW." "Bass," Ciel started, "You just got out of a fight, and with an attack like that, I bet you're in some kind of system cooldown. You'd be toast if you went in! I…I mean, you're all we have at the moment. Protoman and Leviathan aren't in fighting order and now…Zero…he's…with them now. We can't afford to lose you too."

Bass knelt to the ground and picked up the purple scarf before getting back up and saying, "You know, I think I'll take care of this before they prepare for me. I owe Roll that much…that, and I can finally see who's better, me or Zero."

Ciel crossed her arms as she said, "Well unfortunately, I refuse to send you into a trap. I'm sorry, Bass." "Fine," Bass said as he wrapped the scarf around his neck, "LET'S GO, TREBLE!" "Wh-what!?" Ciel exclaimed as Treble barked in agreement with his master. "You can't even fight! What will you do!?" "I'll figure it out," Bass calmly replied as a cylindrical object fell to the ground.

"A Z-saber," Bass noted before X appeared before him. "Bass, I…I've been thinking about what you said. Take that saber, it's Zero's strength. I'd like you to give it to me." "Wha?" Bass asked, confused. "Bass, I'll be waiting in a capsule in the lowest levels of Neo Arcadia. Try not to take too long." Bass cracked a smile as he said, "Sure thing, dweeb."

Ciel was at a loss for words as Treble, the Swiss-army knife of vehicles that he is, began to lift off the ground with Bass riding atop him. Powerful boosters shot them forward and quickly out of her sight. "Don't get yourself killed," She sighed.

Bass sped to Neo Arcadia as fast as he could. As he did, he ran a list of names through his head. _"Fake dweeb, Harpuia, Phantom, Fefnir, Thurisuz, Omega, Elpizo, Weil, that other kid, and of course, Zero. I'll take them all down. Roll, we came into this world together, didn't we? I'll make sure it's the two of us for as long as I can."_

He'd been trying to avoid it, but as he thought about it, as they defended each other in this world, he'd made a bond with the girl, and endless army or not, he'd make sure she was safe.

----------

Ending Notes: Well that's all, folks! Be sure to read the next and final chapter of part one, because next time, it's Bass versus everyone! Will Bass survive? You'll just have to wait and see!

Small note…I'm an _INCREDIBLY _busy person. I tutor, I work at a daycare, I'm a librarian, I work with Boyscouts, and I'm only 21, so excuse any delays!


	8. Chapter 8

Some Author's Notes: Welcome to the final chapter of Lost in Time, Found By War. Note that this is currently the longest chapter I've ever written…EVER. Note that some of this you'll appreciate…while some of it might convince you to stab me. Stabbing me is fine as long as you do it with a D'k tahg. If you don't know what one of those is (And it does exist), then you obviously have no business stabbing me.

On another note, I would call this my most successful story, though granted, I never branched some of the others I started…due to this one being…a bigger idea in my head. That being said, I do have other stories with this one's potential, check 'em out.

Thanks to all my reviewers, reviews are the second greatest thing, next to actually finishing a chapter.

I'd like to dedicate this story…for no reason in particular…to my little sis, Holix, who isn't actually my sister, but I'll freakin' shank the first person that points this out with my shiv! I'm not crazy...

Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own Bass or any Megaman related characters, that's all Capcom.

Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own Super Robot Taisen characters, that's all Banpresto.

On with the show!

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_I call him Bass. He's currently my most powerful creation. Those fools in the robotics community think I built him as a carbon copy of Megaman, hah, what fools! Why would I completely base my greatest creation solely after that blue twerp!? Sure, Bass shares his roots with Megaman, but then again, so too does he share his roots with Protoman, Roll, and every other Robot Master built in the past years! I built Bass…special. He didn't have the choice that Megaman entertained, to choose to fight. Rather, he was built solely for fighting. Sure, all my minions can fight, but they were always built for another purpose and only after their initial directive was defeated, only then would they fight. Bass is different. His purpose, his specialty, it IS fighting and I made sure he reveled in it. It pushes him, it drives him, it forces him to be the best. That is his greatest strength and weakness, as well as a pain for me. It's his will to succeed through battle that makes him fight Megaman and at the same time, it's his will to succeed that isolates him and prevents me from controlling him. He betrays me more times than even Quickman! Perhaps that is why he'll defeat Megaman. As he pushes himself, he pushes the little, blue twerp, and in time, he'll push him to his limits. Unfortunately for Megaman, Bass will eventually push past those limits and send the blue bomber straight to hell in a hand basket! Still, Bass is taking far too long with this task. Perhaps this is why I have decided to…improve on his design and create a new Robot Master capable of fulfilling my dreams of world domination and a world without Megaman. Yes, all my hopes will rest in him, my dormant creation, sleeping in my lab. It won't be long now. Soon, you'll be in the spotlight, Zero._

_-From the memoirs of Doctor Albert Wily_

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A lone outpost in the middle of the endless sea of sand housed a few reploids belonging to the volunteer defense force. It wasn't a glamorous life, but the pay was good and you received much better benefits than a standard civilian. Perhaps, best of all, you were safe. The biggest threat to Neo Arcadia was the Resistance, and luckily, all of their attacks seemed focused directly at Neo Arcadia, making small outposts like these seem incredibly foolish, but somehow helped the feeling of security, nonetheless.

One reploid in particular, so basic in his design, but big on his boasting, was talking to two others, who were mildly interested in what he had to say. "I tell you, the Resistance is taking hits every day! My only regret is I'm not there to give them a good piece of what I've got packing!" His companions groaned, one a tall, slender female, the other short, stout, and male. The male spoke up, a brisk, heavy accent as he said, "Sure Mikhail, because we _ALL _know you and that pea-shooter you call a gun would do some major damage!"

As Mikhail tried to sigh a retort, the female, a far gentler voice in the group, said, "Do we need to be outside like this? All this wind kicking up is going to be murder if it blows sand in my joints." "Yeah, let's go in," the short one replied, "It's not like anything ever happens, and if it does, we'll get it on radar."

Mikhail shrugged and went to enter the outpost with his friends when his eye caught something small in the distance. "What is…" he never got to finish his line. The object was moving far too fast and blew straight past him. The flurry of dust kicked up as the low-flying object whizzed by wasn't what got to him and his friends. It was the resulting sonic boom that threw him and his companions off their feet and had them covering their ears.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Yelled Mikhail before the female yelled, "STOP YELLING! IT HURTS MY EARS!" "I'M NOT YELLING," Mikhail shot back. "WE'RE ALL YELLING!" The stout one shouted, "NOW WHAT IN BLAZES WAS THAT!?"

A few moments gone by and they were inside, checking radar, but whatever it was didn't show up. "Must have been some new Resistance weapon," Mikhail figured. "Shame I didn't get to do anything. If it had been slower, I would have taken it down."

"Really, now?"

The trio looked back. In their haste to get inside and check the radar, they'd left the door opened. Now, they were greeted with the brimstone glare of Bass, a look of discontent on his face as he said, "I'm taking it you have a direct line to the dweeb." They stared at him blankly and he sighed, pressed for time as he palmed his hand to his head. "X…Megaman, the blue loser, come on, work with me here."

"Listen here, you," Mikhail started as he pointed an offensive finger to Bass, who had closed the distance between them. "If you think you can just barge in here and—ow, ow, ow, OW!" Weapons offline aside, Bass had enough strength to move several tons, a trait not shared by the majority of present day reploids and sure enough, Mikhail was bending under Bass's grip as it slowly crushed his hand. "I'd like to talk to the dweeb," Bass calmly said as he released his grip and the trio saw Mikhail's hand, crumpled into uselessness, "I won't say it nicely a second time."

----------

X, the fake one, was currently meeting with his three remaining guardians when the screen behind him lit up and revealed the full anger of Bass's face. "Fake dweeb, hope I wasn't interrupting anything…wait…yes I do." "Bass," X exclaimed, surprised, "How did you…why are you…" X was at a loss for words, but on the other side, Mikhail wasn't. "Why did you crush my hand!?" An eyebrow perked, Bass whirled around and barked, "HEY! STOP COMPLAINING! You still have the rest of the arm! Now dweeb, listen up and listen good. If it were just me, I wouldn't even be telling you this, but as it stands, there's a lot of innocent people that stand to get hurt in this and if I _DIDN'T _issue fair warning, some of my acquaintances might get sappy and sad on me."

"What are you talking about?" A curious X asked. "You," Bass started while pointing at him. "I'm coming for you. I'm coming for Weil. While I'm at it, I'm coming for anyone stupid enough to get in my way! It'd be best to clear the streets because I'm not holding back."

Before X could respond, Bass cut communication. "What do you want to do?" Harpuia asked. X stood silent for a moment before straightening and ordering, "Phantom, alert Weil to the development. Fefnir, ready our ground forces. We'll be using the Mark II model. Harpuia, take care of the air division." "All this for one out of date robot?" Harpuia asked with a curious eyebrow perked. "How many times have we underestimated Zero and met with disaster?" Harpuia silently nodded and the three guardians went on their way.

----------

Treble barked a few times at Bass, the duo airborne once more, flying low to the ground with steadily increasing speed. "I know it wasn't smart to let him know we're coming, but can you imagine how long we'd have Roll griping at us if we wasted a whole city block? Worse, how long Ciel would bawl if we killed a few dozen civilians…"

Bass didn't mind conversing with his companion at the moment. It took his mind off of other things. Things like all his combat functions currently being in a cooldown cycle and the best he had going for him was his little brother's old z-saber. Things like risking his life for yet ANOTHER person and this time, his old nemesis' sister, no less, a girl he was admitting feelings to. Things like the best he had for sword combat being Swordman's old combat data. That had to take the cake on things. For such a light weapon he was carrying, the best data he had was on a Robot Master with a sword so heavy that his top half had to be separated from his bottom half, and at best, all he could do was barely swing that sword of his.

Oh joy.

At least if he flew this low, it'd be too hard for radar to accurately track him. He was wondering how long that particular advantage would serve him when he noticed the sand rise and part, revealing a large, double-barreled cannon. "Well that didn't take long," he murmured as it let loose a dual burst of plasma along a stream. It was easy enough for Treble to dodge, but to their dismay, more were rising out of the sand. Cannons and rocket launchers littered the scene, but in the distance, Bass spotted the outer wall of Neo Arcadia. "Just a bit more," he said, "Let's go, Treble!"

The wolf howled in agreement as its thrusters shot it forward, straight through the barrage of fire, expertly dodging weaponry better suited for MUCH larger targets than a single Robot Master riding his companion.

"He's insane," Harpuia muttered as he thrust his fist in the direction of a quickly approaching Bass. "All hands, ATTACK!" Aerial reploids and their less sophisticated counterparts, mechaniloids, began their attack.

----------

Neo Arcadia could be controlled effortlessly from its command hub. With more than twenty reploids on constant computer surveillance over Neo Arcadia's streets and airspace, they could effectively maintain order throughout the city, or so they thought.

Radio was pouring in. _"Unit 12! Stay in formation!" "He's on my tail! AH! AUGH!"_ an explosion. _"We can't stop him!" "Where's our reinforceme-AUGH!"_ another explosion. _"He's fast! Too fast!" "Damn it, where's Fefnir?!"_

The last comment coming from Harpuia, reploid operators flinched as they watched visuals of Bass, armed with a saber, tearing his way through their efforts to stop him, made all the more real with the audio backing it up. It hardly seemed fair. Sure, some were managing to lay a blow or two on Bass, but it was hardly slowing him down, like he was sincerely pissed about something and it kept pushing him forward.

Their attention was diverted when X and Weil entered the room, an entourage of Omega, Axl, Thurisuz, and Zero behind them. "What's the situation?" X asked. "Bad, sir," an operator replied. "Bass has already cleared the defense line. Remaining troops are falling back to the outer wall for a final stand." "What?" X asked, thoroughly confused. "He's doing that much damage?" "It's not just him," The operator replied, "He's causing a lot of confusion and we're losing members to friendly fire."

"_Fefnir here, we're in position, Mark II models ready for the attack." "It's about time,"_ Harpuia barked over the comm.. _"Where the heck were you!?" "HEY! Sorry, I'm here now, okay? These stupid MK II models were all offline! Do you have any idea how much clearance you have to go through just to put them in start-up?"_

"Fefnir, Harpuia," X began, "Bass is enemy enough, don't go at each other's throats." _"Yes sir!" _they cried in unison. _"Phantom here, observing the battle. Something's wrong here." "Hmm, yes, I see it too," _Harpuia replied, but for Fefnir, such things were beyond him. _"What are you two talking about!?" "He's doing this completely melee," _Harpuia said. "Melee?" X asked, "That doesn't sound right."

"_It's definitely a Mark I Prototype Energy Saber, thing must be as old as him or Zero," _Harpuia commented. _"Yes," _Phantom added, _"His combat style is also decidedly unusual. He's exerting extra force on the handle, almost like he's compensating for extra weight in the blade." "Huh?" _Fefnir shot, lost as ever, _"Come on guys, that's gotta weight what, two pounds, tops? Why swing like that?"_

Butting in, Axl mentioned, "That kind of move would leave him wide open for counterattack. There can't be any logic behind it." "Not necessarily," said Zero, "For someone who lacks the grace and style to effectively attack weak points in the enemy's armor, the tactic is sound. Sure, he's exerting extra force and energy on the blade, but at the same time, he's more likely to destroy his enemy in a single blow. It's the same principle behind my charged saber slash."

"Well," drawled Weil, "I don't think you need me for swordplay commentary. As distressing as this…little assault is, I have other things I could be doing. Master X, if you'll excuse me." X nodded. "Thurisuz, Omega, come with me. Zero, perhaps you'd like to spend some time with your old allies." "Yeah!" Axl added with glee, "Just like old times!" "I doubt it," Zero solemnly replied as Weil, Omega, and Thurisuz left.

----------

Making their way to the detention block, they passed Elpizo's cell. They had to admit, the Baby Elves had powers almost as great as their mother's, but they were a long way from being the same. Their influence on Elpizo and refusal to leave his body was beginning to have a negative effect on the reploid. He was talking to himself, constantly speaking to 'Momma' as if the Dark Elf was right next to him. Furthermore, with three personalities in his head, two with vastly different goals than the other, he was referring to himself as 'We'. To make matters worse, he didn't just look feral, he was indeed prone to outrageous fits of violence.

Still, he wasn't the intended target, no, that was a few cells down. "You mind filling me in on your plan?" Omega asked. "Bass is forcing me to…accelerate things," Weil explained, "So, we'll have to step up my plan and upload the Dark Elf's data to the transceiver. Don't give me that look, you'll be immune to it, as will Thurisuz. Still, with Bass, things might still get hairy, so I'm going to take an extra precaution."

They arrived at their destination as Thurisuz said, "All this taking it safe…bah! We should just kill all of them and be done with it! Uruz wanted to take care of Harpuia…I'll get to do it now." "Patience, my boy," Weil calmly said as he opened the cell to a panicked Roll.

She glared angrily at him, refusing to shrink back, even when Omega and Thurisuz openly made their presence known. "Ah, my dear, this must be so frustrating for you, this time period, the circumstances, not to mention the predicament. Not to worry, your…rather questionable knight in black is already fighting his way through to rescue you. Heh, must make you feel like…some useless…damsel in distress."

Roll, beginning to fume, was about to puff her cheeks in annoyance, but she decided that was a move she'd save for Bass and Bass alone, regardless, Weil chuckled a little before saying, "Worry not, my dear relic. I have a role for everyone in this little play of mine, even you." He motioned to his followers as he said, "Now you can cooperate with us…or I can have them drag you against your will. Which will it be?"

Silence was the reply as she crossed her arms and looked off in a huff. "So be it," Weil replied with a cruel smile as he snapped his fingers and said, "Gentlemen, get to it." The duo nodded, but Omega gave a visible sigh as they advanced on her, grabbing hold of the kicking and screaming girl.

----------

"Why won't this stupid cooldown cycle end already?"

Growling, Bass was grounded, littered with the remains of numerous grunts that had never stood a chance. To his side, Treble spat wires free from his maw as he growled to the opening gates of Neo Arcadia.

Stoic and emotionless, they emerged. Dozens of them, the Mark II line was imposing. At least a head taller than their Pantheon ancestors, the Mark II's sported larger, more angular shoulder armor, ending in a pronounced spike. A rabbit-ear antennae on the side of the head gave improved communication and radar capabilities. Dual, back-mounted cannons gave improved firepower, complementing their advanced beam machineguns, one issued to each unit.

Sporting a striking dark blue and black color scheme, they marched without hesitation on the battlefield, with Fefnir in the back, soon greeted by Harpuia. In the front, the army was led by two familiar faces.

"Tch, I thought I scrapped you two," Bass commented as Thrudgelmir and Galgua stopped at the head of the army. "Figures," Bass said to no one in particular, "Wily did the same stupid thing…wasting time to rebuild designs that have already proven to be failures. Doesn't matter," he flexed his arms as Treble bared his fangs. "Sorry boy," Bass told his companion, who quickly tilted its head in confusion. "This is taking too long, and you've got the better sense of direction. Go get the dweeb, just…keep heading down, I guess. Try not to take too long."

Reluctantly, Treble began to walk away before rushing his way through enemies, weaving his way past resistance until he made it inside the walls of Neo Arcadia. "Stop right there, mutt!" Fefnir yelled as he charged for Treble, the wolf simply ramming into him, clawing at his face until he noticed Harpuia making a stabbing lunge for him. Quickly hopping off Fefnir, he dashed into the city.

"Stupid mongrel," Fefnir said as he rubbed his face. He growled, clenching his fist as he said, "You handle Bass, I'll take the stupid dog." "Leave the dog," Harpuia commanded, "Bass is the real target. Security can take care of the beast later." Grumbling, Fefnir rubbed his face a second time before yelling, "Hey! What the heck do you think you're doing, just standing there!?" The Mark II's hopped into action as he shouted, "MOW BASS INTO THE DIRT!"

The first row of MK II's dropped to their knees, the second row barely above it, just so that the back-mounted cannons could aim at Bass freely. Rows followed this succession and unleashed a powerful torrent of swirling energy at him, simultaneously. The best he could do was to throw himself to the ground, wincing as he felt the searing heat from the blasts. Grunting as he got up, Bass touched the impact wound Uruz had made in his armor earlier. Sure, it hadn't gone far, but it had gone past the armor and into his artificial flesh. It was getting agitated and becoming worse as time went by. Maybe he actually should have gotten repaired and waited for his cooldown cycle to complete itself.

Oh well.

He made his move, rushing the center of the formation before they could fire again, not bothering to dodge the heavy repeating fire of beam machineguns, but rather, throwing himself at them. He tackled the front, starting a quickly resolved chain reaction, but he didn't care. What he did care about was that he finally had something at his disposal that was more his style.

Sure, the z-saber was fine for someone who used it, but as he hefted the beam machinegun, he felt more at home. Squeezing the trigger with eager glee, he sent a spray of small pellets of yellow beam energy that tore into the densely clumped enemy, rendering far more damage to them than it would have been to him, but to his surprise, most of them simply took the punishment as they retaliated with their full arsenal, something that Bass _HAD _to avoid.

As he rolled to the side, he was tackled by the titanic girth of the reptilian Galgua, who didn't hesitate to swipe a mighty claw at Bass, scraping into his armor before rearing his head back and letting loose fearsome flames, but Bass had already been caught off-guard with that once before. It was very unlikely to work a second time.

"Same old moveset," Bass replied calmly as he shoved the barrel of the machinegun into Galgua's mouth, "Just like a Sniper Joe…" Galgua's eyes opened wide with hysteria as Bass pulled the trigger, reducing his enemy's head to slag in mere moments. "You'll pay for that, fool!" Thrudgelmir shouted as the trio of spikes broke free from his shoulder, extending a handle on one end before brimming electricity brought forth his massive blade.

"Bring it on," Bass growled as Thrudgelmir charged. Quickly discovering his machinegun was useless against the giant's armor, he tossed it aside and rolled away from a destructive volley from the MK II's before tripping his opponent. As Thrudgelmir got to his feet once more, Bass grabbed him and used momentum already in the works to roll over and take his opponent tumbling with him before tossing him into the next volley of blasts.

Smiling at the accomplishment, Bass took pleasure in watching Thrudgelmir fly several feet in the air before landing with a deafening thud. He could bet the back of Thrudgelmir's armor was soft from the heat, and upon their next clash, he found his z-saber sank nicely into his enemy. Ripping the blade upwards and out of Thrudgelmir, Bass turned to the MK II's, still emotionless as their mammoth commander teetered over.

Bass acquiesced; fighting was natural for him, it was fun, it was easy. That being said, he understood that at this moment, even with Roll in the clutches of the enemy, he was having the time of his life. He dodged enemy fire before being tackled by a hopping mad Fefnir, nimbly avoided the dual daggers of Harpuia, and maneuvered around the oversized shuriken of Phantom and sighed on the inside. It was a pity that Roll would never be able to understand the joy that came with a life of battle, but what could you do?

"Stand aside, Bass is mine."

The three guardians stopped and acknowledged Zero's presence, but Harpuia said, "It would be better if we defeated him together. After all, we'd have a much greater chance of success." "No," Zero stated, "I'm doing this my way." Disgruntled, Harpuia replied, "You may hold favor with Master X, being his longtime friend, but you must still follow orders. We fight together."

Fefnir looked over the situation and finally said, "Let 'em duke it out." Cocking an eyebrow, Harpuia said, "You can't be serious." Normally quiet, Phantom replied, "Perhaps it is best. Two creations from the same creator, one meant to surpass the other. This might be their only chance to discover the other's potential." A few moments of pondering went by before Harpuia simply nodded and stepped back, the other two guardians following suit.

Bass raised his z-saber in his left hand, brought close to his chest, the tip barely centimeters from his outstretched right hand. Zero perked an eye at the maneuver. Based on his sword styling, Bass had made a good move. He'd be using the same overexertion as before, but the angle wouldn't necessarily be straight down like usual. If they weren't about to kill each other, Zero would have inquired as to where Bass knew his peculiar fighting style, but as he raised his own saber, he understood that you just weren't going to figure out some things.

----------

Treble jetted along the ground, a benefit of being able to transform into a multitude of vehicles. Considering he was becoming increasingly pressed for time, Treble had opted for jet mode, even if it wasn't the best at turning on a dime.

He'd gone underground, opting for the silence of the sewer, which seemed naturally inclined to heading deeper below Neo Arcadia's surface. As Bass had stated, Treble was endowed with a highly advanced sensor package, much greater than anything Bass could boast. As of such, Treble occasionally stopped to sniff and paw at the ground, getting his bearings again before taking off in the correct direction once again.

After a seemingly endless search, the hound came upon a service elevator, and after careful inspection, entered. It reared on its hind legs and awkwardly pawed at the buttons, indicating his desire to head to the lowest level in Neo Arcadia.

**ACCESS DENIED **

Treble growled and pawed it again.

**ACCESS DENIED**

In a fervent anger surpassed only by his master, Treble slashed through the panel underneath the buttons, swiping into wires in a ferocious growl.

**ACCESS APPROVED **

The wolf sat, satisfied as the elevator put him on a descent, ever-deeper into Neo Arcadia. Realizing that his success was due to being just that ticked, Treble realized that he'd just perfectly emulated his owner. The thought made him wag his tail in pleasure, but at the same time, it brought the fact that Bass was fighting impossible odds. Such a thought made the robotic canine whimper a moment as the elevator came to a halt.

The doors gave way to a long hallway, ending at an ornate door. In all directions spread an immaculate white that sparkled brightly. As Treble walked along the corridor, its highly finished walls reflected him, all the way down to the door. Here, he halted, soaking in the reverence of his location before realizing the door wouldn't open for him.

Treble heaved something akin to a sigh as he began to work his way through the door, first by digging his claws in through the crease and working his body in. It was a lot easier than trying to get an elevator to work, but the canine hated to have to ruin such a nice door.

It didn't take long to get past the door, but if the hallway alone held reverence, the room beyond it was absolute authority. Pillars raised to the ceiling with images carved in them were littered everywhere. If Treble were to ever describe these images, he'd call them the battles of champions.

It trotted in the perfectly polished room, soaking in the atmosphere before realizing that the sky was perfectly simulated on the ceiling, casting rays on the center of the room. In this center lay a single capsule, glowing a fierce blue. As Treble closed the distance, he laid eyes on a figure, as blue as his glow. He didn't look as streamlined as Copy X, what with the bulkier gauntlets and boots, but then again, Zero and Omega didn't look identical either, it would make sense that Copy X and the original bore some differences.

He looked at the figure, sleeping, and a giant, gaping hole in his chest. Treble remembered that Bass had told him of how X used to be the prison for the Dark Elf until Weil somehow got his hands on it. Apparently, he'd simply ripped the thing free. This didn't look good to the canine. How do you bring a robot online when it has a hole in its chest?

As if Fate were answering the question, a tiny orb of gold light was flying about inside the shell of X. Presumably the Cyber Elf X, it was repairing the damage before it seemed to settle in the red gem on X's head, so finally, Treble nudged the capsule door with his nose until it finally opened with a slow hiss.

Slowly, the glow in X's gem died down as he opened his eyes. He quickly exited his capsule and looked around before settling eyes on Treble. "Bass couldn't make it, huh?" Treble shook his head. "Well," X said, "Let's go, after all, this isn't really his fight."

----------

Sabers clashed, shrieking each time they made contact. As their owners jumped back, the one held by Bass fizzled a little. "Your saber has a disadvantage against mine," Zero stated. "I recognize it, it's my first one. The grooves I worked in with my fingers are still there. It's a dependable weapon, but it lacks the output to go against a saber like mine. You're going to blow it out soon."

"So what?" Snapped Bass. "I'd hate to win the fight because an exploding saber rendered you unconscious," Zero calmly replied. "Oh don't worry about winning," Bass said, "Worry about surviving."

Bass swung at his younger brother, spinning on his heel and quickly shifted to a fencing position and thrust his thin blade only to have it expertly parried at every turn. It was annoying to have to do this on Zero's terms, rather than his own. Sure, as time went by, he was supplementing Swordman's combat data with his own experience, but that did little to help the fact that his opponent had been using a sword for untold years.

Finally, with another shrieking clash of their blades, electricity crackled from his weapon and Bass barely tossed his z-saber away before it exploded on him. Due to quick reflexes, he'd avoided the brunt of the blow, but was still knocked off his feet. This was an opportunity that Zero intended to use. "I have you," he shouted as he leapt. Saber pointed downward, he dropped on his target.

"Stupid…exploding…" Bass mumbled as he opened his eyes and saw Zero's attack. Everything seemed to slow down for him as he understood his body didn't have it in it to move at the moment. He found it hilarious; the day he decided to live by the sword, he was to die by it. Then another thought kicked in: If he were painted blue, he would have won by now. Then again. His earlier hallucination's words burned in his skull.

"Ya know," Megaman said, "I'm glad Zero came along. You know, I'm betting he's the one who took me out in the end, considering you'd never be able to do it."

The concept had enraged him earlier, but it looked like a viable theory. Consequently, being built with computational speeds that rivaled the unparalleled Elecman's, Bass was cursing how long Zero's final blow was taking, along with his continued chain of lightning quick thoughts.

**COOLDOWN CYCLE COMPLETE. ALL COMBAT FUNCTIONS RESTORED. **

_"Hah, it's about damn time," _Bass thought, but he shouted, "THRUSTERS!" In response, the emergency dash function built into him by Wily kicked in, throwing him a distance away from Zero's strike. He flipped up with his momentum and rewarded Zero's efforts to eliminate him with an unexpected buster shot to the face. Rubbing his face, Zero perked an eyebrow. "So, you had no combat functions and you charged Neo Arcadia? I knew you were reckless, but stupid?"

"Stupid? Oh, I'll show you stupid. STUPID WAS EVER THINKING YOU HAD A CHANCE AGAINST ME! I don't care if you toasted the dweeb! ALL I CARE ABOUT IS STAMPING YOU INTO THE DIRT!"

As Bass charged his buster, he acquiesced that beating the tar out of Zero wasn't his only reason for being here. After all, it not for wanting Roll, odds are he wouldn't even be here. Still, that was his personality, punch first, worry about everything else second. As he released his searing hot plasma towards Zero, he felt almost relieved to be back in his own abilities, but now his ego was getting to him.

"Okay, little brother," he began, "Let me show you just how powerful I really am."

Only the ever-observant Phantom noticed them in the sky, tiny now, but soon to grow in size. "We should seek shelter," he declared to his comrades. "What for?" Fefnir asked, "This is getting really good!" "What do you see?" Harpuia asked. Phantom calmly pointed to the sky and replied, "That."

Dozens of blazing meteors littered the sky, and only Bass and Phantom knew of their destructive potential. To make it more frightening for Phantom, he'd only seen the move when Bass was so damaged he could barely fight. One-by-one, the flaming messengers from heaven impacted with the ground, and the only one immune to their damage was the one who called them.

----------

"What are you doing, Doctor?"

Weil looked over to Omega and explained. "Now that we we've partitioned her memory to a backup drive, we have space in that head of hers for our guest of honor. From there, we connect her to the transmitter and I can finish the plan I started nearly a century ago."

"Cute, Papa," Thurisuz commented, "But being stuck here is driving me nuts. Isn't there something else I could be doing? I mean, what about Anthuz? I'd love to see my younger brother in action." "Anthuz isn't ready yet," Weil stated, "Besides, you need to be here in case something goes wrong." Thurisuz, although loyal to Weil, replied, "What could possibly go wrong?"

Unknown to the young Thurisuz, Fate was…kind of active today. As Bass's blazing Astro Crush assault met the ground, it shook with tremendous fervor, bringing the occupants of the room to their knees.

"What was that?" Thurisuz shouted. "Something with a lot of power," Omega snarled. "It seems time's getting short on us, gentlemen," Weil declared, "So Omega, give me a hand. Thurisuz, delay our…guests.."

----------

Elevator doors parted, and X, the true X, stepped out and into the command hub of Neo Arcadia, while Treble whimpered a little. "Go help Bass," X commanded with a smile. Treble didn't have to be told twice, he bounded for the window and leapt through, dashing past the Copy X, who looked on, shocked, as a mechanical canine broke his window and took off, flying.

"What in blue blazes…" Copy X trailed off as the real one stepped forward. "I think we're the only blue, blazing things in the room." Every operator in the room halted as they realized they were dealing with two X's. "The Resistance…copied me?" Copy X asked, confused. "Actually," X said, "The Resistance copied _ME_…well…she wasn't part of the Resistance when she did that, but what can you do?"

"Wait, you're saying…I'm the copy?" Copy X asked, bewildered. "I'm afraid so," X replied. "I won't believe that lie!" Copy X shouted as he revealed his buster. Panicked murmurs from his operators could be heard as he aimed at X. "I would have liked to have done this without a fight," X calmly stated, but Copy X wouldn't hear it.

Quickly switching to his angelic Ultimate Armor, Copy X began to charge his buster. The true X put up his hands and said, "Hey now, don't be so hasty. You don't want this to come to a battle of Ultimate Armors." Adding force to his statement, X shifted to his familiar ultimate armor, with him since the 4th Maverick War…even if he somehow managed to misplace it almost immediately after each conflict.

(Author's Midnote: Anyone else besides me find losing entire suits of ARMOR from the progression of one game to the next even more unbelievable than not having the powers you gained in your last war?)

(Author's Midrant: And don't get me started on X6! You start out in the Falcon Armor from X5! Alia said she _'FIXED'_ it. Ya know what? It doesn't even FLY anymore! How does FIXING something break it?)

Before they could exchange fire, blazing meteors hit the ground, causing an impact that threw everyone down.

Operators screamed amidst the chaotic rumbling, as two Megaman X's got to their feet and began to exchange fire in their enclosed environment. Back and forth, rapid fire scorched the walls and destroyed equipment as the two agile fighters dodged enemy attacks.

Enraged and confused, Copy X leapt to the sky and shot multiple, thin streams of plasma at X, who retaliated with the full force of his Ultimate Armor's charged shot. The thin beams did nothing to slow down X's assault and it smashed into Copy X, sending him careening into a wall.

"It's over," X said, "We don't need to resort to violence any longer." "Shut up!" Copy X shouted, "I won't listen to some second-rate copy! I'm the real X! I'm the hero! I won't lose to you!" Copy X pulled himself free and rushed X, who sighed. Apparently, some people couldn't understand when the fighting was over. X hopped a little into the air before foot-mounted rockets took over. The shining yellow wings on his back unfolded and he charged Copy X with dazzling speed, ramming his opponent while charged with golden energy.

Copy X couldn't withstand such an assault and he crashed into the wall once more, this time, through it, and fell countless feet before he harshly impacted the ground. X looked over the hole and shook his head. "It didn't have to be this way."

----------

Not too far underground housed the prison section. Seeing as the ground absorbed the impact, most of the energy was transferred to the underground structure. Seeing their place as criminals, the prisoners would see rescue eventually, but for now, they were all trapped underneath rubble, some to lose their lives soon. All but one, one feral reploid who'd tried so hard to prove his worth and lost himself. As Elpizo pulled himself free of the wreckage, he called out, "Momma? Momma? Where are you, Momma?" He began to walk down the corridor, uncaring of the situation or the cries of help from buried reploids. "I'm coming, Momma…"

----------

Dust settled outside Neo Arcadia's outer wall…well, what used to be Neo Arcadia's outer wall. Most of it had been blown away by an Astro Crush of monumental proportions. Wide-eyed, Harpuia and Fefnir looked on, only surviving because the Mark II's had shielded them from the attack. Bass was a walking, wanton disaster that had to be dealt with, no matter the cost.

Still, even as they prepared to attack, Zero's voice harshly called out, "Hold it! Bass is still mine." He was holding his arm in pain, but for the most part, Zero was okay. "How'd you manage to live through that," Bass inquired. Zero motioned to his black and white armor and replied, "The Dark Elf's power is quite amazing. Perhaps it's time you felt it for yourself."

Zero may not have had the Dark Elf on his person, but he did have the energy signature, and while his copy data function didn't quite work the same as the one in Bass, it worked, nonetheless. He dashed, taking Bass by surprise. Unfortunately, with his injuries, especially the one in his chest, he didn't have it in him to move after the last assault, so all he could do was grunt in annoyance as Zero grabbed him. Quickly, Zero's arm swirled over with black mist that seeped into Bass, who could only yell in pain as an imprint of the Dark Elf was transferred into him, and Zero let him go, satisfied.

"Is it over?" Fefnir asked, but the other two guardians couldn't give an answer. "Relax," Zero stated, "This is over, there's nothing to worry about, in a moment, Bass will…huh?" Bass slowly got to his feet, glowing, but not undergoing the change he was supposed to be experiencing. Instead, his body was flowing over with purple energy that seemingly forced the black mist out of him with a faint scream. "What the heck?" Zero asked.

Bass chuckled, "So, it doesn't like that, does it? Looks like your Dark Elf doesn't like the Evil Energy in my body." "Evil Energy?" Zero repeated. "Yeah, Wily kinda sucked at naming things. He managed to copy it from some android that crashed into the planet and it sparked the Eighth Wily War. It was only natural that I took that power into myself to make me stronger. Who would have guessed it would turn out to be completely incompatible with your stupid Dark Elf?"

"Incompatible?" Harpuia repeated with confusion. It would be the perfect edge against Weil if used properly, but could Bass even manage to do that? "Hey, Zero," Bass casually called, "Let's test something." Focusing, a swirling orb of the purple energy formed in Bass's hand. "Let's see how you take a bit of your own medicine." Rivaling Zero's speed, Bass tackled him, shoving the orb into Zero.

Bass backed off, waiting, hopefully, it wouldn't be long. "What did you do to me?" Zero asked, but the answer soon presented itself and he roared in pain as the purple aura flared up in his body. Almost sympathetically, Bass leaned over to Zero and softly said, "Easy, it hurts, I know it does. It hurt my first time, too."

In a dazzling display of power, the black mist was forced out of Zero's body and his armor returned to normal. He collapsed, panting as the pain died down. Finally, he looked to Bass, speechless for a moment before finally saying, "So, you never actually planned on killing me?" Bass laughed a little before replying, "Well that was the plan, but this was an agreeable Plan B."

Bass offered his hand to Zero and helped him up as the red robot asked, "What do we do with them?" Referring to Fefnir, Harpuia, and Phantom. "Want to smash them into the dirt?" Bass offered. "I suppose," Zero answered, "But I think our damage is a bit extensive, we might have to actually try." Bass shrugged in agreement, prompting an angry response from Fefnir. "You think you two can take the three of us!? HAH!"

A trans-server signal shooting through changed the odds. Protoman and Leviathan soon appeared. "What the heck happened to you!?" Bass shouted to Protoman, upon seeing his form. Protoman was bulkier now, sporting heavy chest armor. His boots were slightly larger, raised a bit in the back, revealing powerful vernier thrusters. His back sported a single cannon to the right while his shield was larger, attached to the left arm. Right below the cannon were more external boosters, connected to large, external, cylindrical propellant tanks.

"It's just some external armor," said Protoman, "We call it R-series." "What does _that_ stand for?" Bass inquired. "We don't know yet," Protoman casually replied, "SOMEONE decided to charge Neo Arcadia by himself and we didn't have enough time to figure out a name before you got scrapped!"

"Yeah," Leviathan added, "What kind of deathwish do you have, anyways?" "Hey," Bass said defensively, "I've been doing rather well, if I do say so myself." "You haven't even made it through the wall yet!" Leviathan declared. With a grin, Bass replied, "What wall?"

Treble in the horizon, Leviathan gasped, "You…the wall…oh my goodness, how did you…how?" As Treble settled down next to his master, growling fiercely at the guardians, Bass said, "I was determined." "You know," Protoman said, "When Ciel said you'd gone nuts when they nabbed Roll, I thought she was only trying to justify you going insane…but all because of Roll?" Silent at first, Bass replied, "Yeah…look, Leviathan, I know it's not the best time, but…"

She shook her head. "It's fine. So another guy falls through my fingers, oh well, the story of my life. What are you going to do now?" "Get her back," Bass declared, "And these clowns aren't going to stop me!" "Then let us help," Leviathan said, shocking her fellow guardians. "You intend to stand against us?" inquired Harpuia. "Yes," Leviathan said, "Because you aren't fighting for the right side. X…our X…he's a fake, I learned this. He's just a puppet for Weil to pull the strings. As long as you stand by him, you're the enemy."

"I don't want to fight with Leviathan," Fefnir said. "Yes," Phantom agreed, "It would be…disheartening." "To stand alone in the minority," Harpuia said, "Very well. We shall stand aside. Perhaps things were meant to play out this way."

Bass offered his hand to Harpuia, saying, "You're not so bad after all." Shaking his hand, Harpuia replied, "Perhaps you aren't either…huh?" Harpuia glowed, before Bass did, the Robot Master in question smirking. "You jerk! You just copied my powers, didn't you!?" "Relax," Bass said, "It was only a matter of time, besides, I probably won't ever use them, seeing as how I've got Treble."

Harpuia grumbled while Protoman and Leviathan encouraged Zero and Bass to go on ahead. Almost on their way, they stopped when the reunited guardians gripped their heads in pain. "What the heck?" muttered Bass as the screams came, not just from them, but from inside the city as well.

"No, it's happening again…"

The three Robot Masters, seemingly immune to this pain, looked to a frightened Axl, who looked to Zero and said, "This happened before! Eighty years ago, reploids started going berserk! They…blamed my kind, second generation reploids. They said that due to our…special abilities, we were spreading the Maverick virus all over again, I was shut down, but it can't be that, not now!"

"Weil and the Dark Elf," Zero said, "It can control others, we've seen it with Elpizo and myself…he must have figured out a way to use that power on a wide scale." Almost sympathetically, Zero reasoned, "I'm sorry, Axl. They probably didn't know what was going on and wanted a scapegoat. It must have been you." "Why aren't you freaking out on us?" Protoman inquired to Axl. "Well my generation was…special. We were designed to be able to avoid numerous corruptions…this has to be Weil's work."

"What will you do?" Zero asked Axl. "I…don't know…I follow him, right?" Bass huffed as he replied, "Weren't you the one who said he doesn't get corrupted? Weil seems corrupt to me. Are you really intent on stopping us from stopping him?" A few moments passed before Axl put his arms behind his head and calmly said, "Nah."

Ignoring the screams behind them, Protoman said, "You were never under Weil's control, were you?" "Not really," Axl said. "Then why'd you help Weil corrupt Zero?" "Well…" Axl looked off, "I thought that since Weil was with X, things were different…X carries a lot of trustworthiness, you know." "Copy X," Bass, Protoman, and Zero replied, simultaneously.

"Whatever," Axl replied as he shrugged. "Look, Zero, you go on ahead, things are gonna get nasty when they stop screaming, but they'll have to deal with me." "Oh I'll at least want two of my own," Protoman nonchalantly replied, "Let me have a go at them with you."

"You two sure?" Zero asked. "Actually," Axl boasted, "It's been a while, let me take care of them." Adding flair to his statement, he twirled his pistols and added, "Besides, you two are a bit messed up, your armored friend here should watch your back." "Seriously?" Bass inquired. "All in a day's work for a Maverick Hunter as awesome as I am," Axl replied with a grin. "Fine," Bass said with crossed arms, "You'd better not be dead when we come back."

Not wasting anymore time, Protoman, Zero, Bass, and Treble ran through the wreckage that once was the grand wall of Neo Arcadia. They ignored screams, but took note as they died down. Most notable was hearing a feral yell from the guardians. As they stopped to look back, they saw the ever-speedy Axl dodge a charge from Fefnir, gripping the reploid and sending him into his companions.

Evasion being his specialty, Phantom dodged and threw his shuriken at Axl, who's pinpoint shooting knocked it out of the sky. "You're making this too easy," a cheerful Axl shouted as he shot Harpuia in the knee, effectively disabling him for the moment. It was then that Leviathan made a dive for him. "Whoops, forgot about her," Axl said to himself as he took flight and dodged her animalistic charge.

"They're…like animals," Protoman stated. "Yeah, like Axl said, Weil's taking control, we need to hurry up," Zero said. "Bah," Bass said, "We can take any of these throwaway reploids." "Sure, _WE _can," said Zero, "But what about the humans?" "Oh right," Bass replied, "They're totally doomed." "Which is why we hurry up," Zero stated, praying that Ciel was okay. After all, the majority of the Resistance Base were reploids.

They ran, fighting their way through under-equipped reploids that went into a rage upon seeing them. The hardest part was trying NOT to kill them, after all, it wasn't their fault that they'd suddenly gone crazy.

----------

"EEEEEEK!" Ciel screamed as she jumped out of the way of a soldier, reaching for her. She couldn't understand what was going on, just that everyone had suddenly gone insane. Why did this have to happen when everyone who could fight had already left? Well…what if Bass and the others had gone insane too?

Ciel slinked in her lab and locked the door before sliding against it and heaving a heavy sigh. It was then that she heard raspy breathing that wasn't her own. "Who-who's there?" She shakily called out.

No reply, only a nasty growl as Alouette came charging from the darkness of Ciel's lab and tackled her. She had to fight to get the physically superior reploid off of her before she could scramble to her feet and scurry away, shutting the door on Alouette before she got up.

Out in the open again, more reploids turned to her and the closest shelter was Elpizo's old office. Knowing it was locked, Ciel frantically searched for her keys and bolted inside, locking the door behind her. Finally, the girl fell to her knees and began to cry. All she wanted now, more than anything, was Zero by her side.

----------

"Hey guys," Protoman said as they ran arrived at Neo Arcadia's central building. The two others looked to him and he said, "Go on, I've got something I need to finish out here, it'll just slow you guys down."

Annoyed at this development so close to the objective, Bass merely huffed as he ran on ahead, soon followed by Zero and Treble. "Good, they didn't gripe," Protoman said to himself before adding, "You can come out now, Mr. Crazy."

"You're good," Thurisuz said, fully clad in Bergelmir as he stepped from the shadowed side of the building. "The dog didn't even notice me, you must have keen senses…or want to die that badly. You remember what I said, right? I'm going to kill you."

Protoman revealed his buster and fired a burst while saying, "Put up or shut up." With glee, Thurisuz dodged before pointing to Protoman. The semi-circles on his back formed a ring and launched their six projectiles as he shouted, "Six Plagues! GRIND HIM INTO DUST!"

This time, as verniers on Protoman's external armor hummed to life, it was easy to dodge the speedy projectiles. Adding insult to his opponent, sensitive targeting scanners in Protoman's visor lined up the projectiles and he fired a burst from his back-mounted cannon. If his face were visible, Thurisuz would have looked shocked as his Six Plagues attack was literally shot down.

"It won't change your fate! You have zero chance of survival!" Thurisuz shouted as he fell back on his secondary, rarely seen weapon, a small laser called the machine rifle. Despite his lack of use when it came to the weapon, its spiraling torrent of red and blue energy was enough to bore holes through nearby buildings, but as Thurisuz soon learned, it wasn't strong enough to make it through Protoman's shield.

As Protoman closed the distance between them, blocking Thurisuz's wild attempts with his weapon, the Bergelmir clad warrior shouted, "NO! You're supposed to die! It can't happen this way! I won't lose to a worthless inferior model like you!" As Protoman reached his proper distance, multiple hatches gave way on his shield as he replied, "I don't think you have a choice!"

At such close range, and against an opponent with such thin armor, Protoman's claymores were practically lethal. He felt no real remorse as they riddled Thurisuz full of holes, though he supposed he felt some degree of pity. He got up to go help Bass and Zero, but fell back down. Now that everything was over, Protoman felt incredibly dizzy and drained, a product of his new acceleration. The others would just have to wait, he just hoped they weren't in any big trouble.

----------

"I'd say you're in just a bit of trouble," Omega mocked as he stood in the path of Zero and Bass. "Of all the times to have to deal with this moron," Bass spat, but Omega smirked. "You want to go on ahead? Want to be the _hero _and save the girl? Be my guest. I want Zero, not you. Besides, it'll be more entertaining if you actually get to her." Omega's smirk grew as he added, "You'll see." Growling, Bass declared, "If you did _ANYTHING _to her, I'll—" "You won't even be able to make it back to do anything to me," Omega said, cutting him off.

"Go on," Zero said, "I'll fight Omega, you go stop the Dark Elf and rescue Roll! Oh, and do us all a favor and take care of Weil." Bass smirked, bigger than Omega as he and Treble calmly walked passed him. His only words as he passed Omega were, "With pleasure."

"Good, good," Omega said as it was just him and Zero, "We have each other all to ourselves." "Why are you so intent on killing me, anyways?" Zero asked. Omega answered with, "Call it an…identity crisis."

They drew their sabers, ready to clash, when they heard steps followed by raspy breathing. "Oh come on," Omega snarled, "Not more of the Doctor's zombie-bots…" "No," Zero said as he narrowed his eyes. "It's…great, now I wish I hadn't sent Bass off. Oh well."

Slowly, Elpizo walked into view, a wild look on his face as he eyed Zero and Omega. "Zero…and…_Zero_…heh, heh, heh, how wonderful. You're out to hurt Momma, aren't you? Just like last time, eh? Well not until you get through me!" "Oh great," Omega drawled, "He thinks I'm you…" "You _ARE _using my body," Zero pointed out. "Details, details," Omega replied, "So, three-way battle?"

Zero was about to agree when a tremendous burst of plasma rammed into Elpizo. Whirling around, Zero and Omega eyed X, buster smoking. "Zero, good to see you." Gawking, Omega replied, "That is the most realistic Copy X I've ever seen…" Zero sighed and replied, "It's the REAL X, Omega." "Well, well, well," Omega began with his arms crossed, "Poor, little X decided to stop floating about like a cute little fairy and decided to do something besides get Zero to fight for him. Oh this is rich, this is fantastic."

Omega walked a little ways from Zero, now intrigued with X's appearance. "Omega," X started, "I made a mistake, not destroying you. I won't make the same mistake twice." "Oh please," Omega scoffed, "You couldn't hold a candle to me before, what makes you think this is going to be any different?"

Out of the corner of their eyes, they noticed Elpizo getting to his feet as X coldly replied, "I wasn't fighting you as hard as I could have. I was trying to save Zero's body. I hope he'll forgive the fact that I won't give you that courtesy this time." Zero shrugged as he said, "I was going to kill him too."

"X, Zero, and Zero," Elpizo said, not caring about the concept of two Zeros, "I'll destroy you all! No one's ever going to hurt my Momma again!" A flash of light and Elpizo's saber appeared in his hand. He pointed the blade in the direction of his enemies and said, "I'm going to make this messy."

Zero and Omega readied their sabers as X began to charge his buster. This was going to be a complicated fight.

Four sets of thrusters went off at once as they all charged for each other. X leapt over Zero, firing his buster into Omega, who dodged, only to be tackled by Elpizo. "Kill one of THEM!" Omega shouted as he ripped the crazed reploid off him and locked sabers with Zero.

"I'll kill all of you!" Elpizo shouted with a wild laugh as he swung at X, grazing his armor before getting a charged shot of plasma to the face. "I can't see! My eyes! They burn!" He shouted as he thrashed about. "What a fool," Omega muttered as he fired his z-buster, striking Elpizo in the back of the head.

"You're one to talk!" Zero shouted as his charged saber connected with Omega's backside. Gripping the region in pain, Omega slammed a glowing fist to the ground, sending a massive shockwave that threw Zero back, but there was no time for rest as the distinctive, jetlike sound of X's Nova Strike paved the warning before ramming Omega with golden energy. "You can't beat both of us," X stated as his buster began to charge. Likewise, Zero began to charge his saber before saying, "Omega, say your prayers."

Omega's eyes widened as he remembered his climactic clash with the duo, all those years ago. He knew X was right. As much as he could take on one, both was out of the question. Zero ran for him and he readied himself, determined to fight until the end, but Zero rolled out of the way, revealing a powerful burst of plasma from X. As the buster shot hit its mark, Zero swung in with his charged saber and the force was too much.

Omega impacted the wall, mere inches from Elpizo's downed body, groaning as he got to his feet. Electricity was crackling all over his body as he muttered, "No, not like this." He felt something and looked down, Elpizo's weak body was reaching for him, whispering, "You feel like Momma…she's touched you…"

"Let go of me, you miserable little…what are you doing!?" Elpizo gripped Omega's leg and with the last of his strength, pulled him to the ground, dragging him towards him as the Baby Elves exited his body. They giggled as they encircled the two, casting them in an orb of blinding light.

"What's going on?" Zero asked. "Cyber Elves are just full of surprises, aren't they?" X replied as the light died down. In the place of two enemies and two misguided elves was a single figure, almost stuck in the hallway before it howled, sending an aura that ate away at the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and everything else around it, giving it enough berth to move.

One could see the influence of Omega and Elpizo in it, but the transformation was still shocking. No legs, rather, a single spike. Four sets of three spiked wings each adorned its back; two from the shoulders, two from the lower back. Long hands, ending in vicious claws sprouted from its shoulders as plating sprouted over the shoulders and lower torso. Elpizo's single bang was exposed while Omega's flowing golden hair shot from the back of its head, adorned with a crown of batwings.

"Wonderful," Zero muttered as X stifled a laugh. "Just what's so funny about this?" X smiled as he said, "I think you're developing Bass's biting sarcasm."

----------

Now much higher in the building, Bass felt tremors from down below. "Just what kind of crazy party are they having down there?" He put the thought aside as he finally arrived to a door, boldly announcing itself as Weil's lab. "Good," Bass declared, "Just as bold and stupid as Wily."

Blowing the door down, Bass stepped in with Treble, fangs bared. "Weil, I've come for two things! One's Roll, the other's your head!" Calmly standing near a console with his hands behind his back, Weil smirked. "I don't think I can give you my head, but if it's the girl you're after…well…" He flipped a switch on the console and a capsule slowly lowered from the ceiling.

"What the hell?"

It was Roll, outfit replaced with a black mesh, leading to wires connected to her body. Her hair was standing on end with a single black streak in it. She opened lifeless eyes and softly sighed as a black aura rose around her body.

"What the hell did you do to her!?" Bass barked as he pointed his charging buster at Weil. "Don't blame me," Weil slyly said, "blame the Dark Elf. After all, I merely partitioned your little girlfriend's programming onto a backup drive so that the Dark Elf would be able to take full control of her body. Marvelous, isn't it? She's free to do what she wants now…and she chose to serve me, to bring an end to this world of frightened humans and foolish reploids, so quick to serve their human masters like lapdogs."

A low growl building in Bass, he barked, "Why the hell would you do this!?" Weil shrugged as he answered, "You have to admit…you haven't shot her yet." "Tch, this was all so I wouldn't ruin your plan?" "Simple, but brilliant, wouldn't you agree?" "I wouldn't," Bass coldly replied. "Oh come now, don't be such a stick in the mud," Weil said before bursting into a cackle.

"I think it's time I killed you," Bass declared, but Weil sighed, merely asking, "Why?" A puzzled look on Bass's face told him to continue, "So I'm evil, am I? I'm sick and twisted and deserve to die, eh? What makes me anymore damned to hell than any other human? Did I destroy this world? No, that was done long before I decided to help! Humans destroy and cause chaos and suffering, that's all we're good for! Guns, missiles, nukes, Robot Masters, and even reploids! All we do is head for one single destination: destruction. Ask yourself, would we even be in this situation if Ciel had never made the original Copy X? How about if the Dark Elf never existed? What if Wily had never made you or Zero? Where would humanity be? On the same course of self-destruction!"

"Stuff I don't care about," Bass declared as he fired his buster, striking Weil in the chest. "Oh-ho, good one, my boy, good one!" Bewildered, Bass looked on as Weil got to his feet and the hole in his chest healed. "I like it, that killer instinct of yours. We're so much alike, you and I. Did you know that?" "Like hell, we are," Bass replied.

"It's true. I watched you, I've been watching you. You fought on par with Omega and wrecked an entire battalion of Pantheons faster than I'd ever seen before. You fought against the Guardians and Copy X, all while under fire from even more. Then you go on to fight to disable a satellite, you go in to steal medical supplies and nearly get scrapped. The data doesn't add up, especially when you go on to defeat my first Bio-Reploid in your initial encounter. Then you do this, you bring the walls of Neo Arcadia tumbling down as you reduce an army to scrap. You lead a one-man assault on a fortress of a city and look at the damage you've caused, all because you were mad. Then it hit me. You performed so poorly in other things, but this, wide-spread destruction, _THAT'S _where you excel! Don't fight me, Bass."

Bass fired more shots into Weil, but Weil got up, his body healing. "Why the hell won't you die!?" Bass shouted. "It's called Machine Cell," Weil stated. "Eighty years ago, after X and Zero defeated me, they decided…death was too good for me. They figured I deserved…_eternal _punishment. So, using experimental technology, they forged an armor and fused my body to it. Thus, no matter how much damage my body incurs, it never lasts. Even the damage of age is reversed, thus, I never age. Eighty years, Bass. Eighty years of perpetual suffering and self-destruction to no avail. I embody the true form of humanity, which is why I understand it, I know why it wants to die so badly. It can't help itself, thus, I must help it. I must help humanity reach the finale and taste oblivion. It won't take much more. Reploids are so suited to killing humans. Maybe a week or two at best before all these miserable humans are wiped out, but so much faster if you'd help."

"Killing all humans, no thanks," Bass said, "I'd rather just kill you and take Roll back." "You want her so badly," Weil began, "Then take her." The capsule opened and the Dark Elf-possessed Roll stepped out. "R-Roll," Bass said softly, but she opened her palm and shot a stream of dark energy at him. As he dodged, Treble whimpered.

"It's okay, boy," Bass said, "I'm fine, her, not so much. After all, she wasn't built for combat like we were. I bet her body can only take so much. We'd better figure out something or…or we're going to have to toast her to save everyone." Treble barked a bit as they dodged another stream of black energy. "Talk to her? Buddy, I don't think my social skills work that well." They dodged again and electricity shot through her body, so he winced and replied, "Fine, let's…talk."

Swallowing his pride, Bass stood tall, not bothering to dodge the next blast, but accepting it as he shouted, "Roll! I know you're in there, somewhere! Listen, I don't care what that moron, Weil says! I've figured I'm not all about the destruction, there's something else in my life that makes me keep going now! It…it's you! It sounds sappy, coming from me, but this whole raid on Neo Arcadia, it wasn't just because I was pissed! It was because I wanted you back! I don't care what Weil thinks he's done to you! I don't care if the Dark Elf thinks it's in charge of your body! They can't control you if you don't let them! Do you know how many times Wily tried to alter my programming? I just overrode it and you can fight back, too, I know you can, you're just as strong as I am! You might not have a buster, but you've got a will that rivals my own, even if you don't see it! Roll! Wake up!"

Bass grunted as he accepted another blast. Treble barked at him and he replied, "No, not yet," as he turned to Roll, "Let's just go home, okay Roll? No more fighting, no more destruction, just us. Just the two of us, alright? Weil is finished and the Dark Elf has no purpose, don't let the Dark Elf rule you."

"Bark all you want, you useless machine," Weil said with malicious glee, "It won't do you any good! The Dark Elf has her body. If you want to fix everything, you're going to have to destroy her, but you can't, can you?"

"Shut it!" Bass barked, before shouting, "Treble, let's do it! Howling Gospel Cannon!" The duo fused, Treble becoming his buster as he locked into position. "Don't get me wrong, I don't want to do this, but if it means saving everyone, even you, Roll, then I'll do it. I told it to Leviathan, too. If you get reprogrammed, you aren't the same person I knew, I won't hesitate to destroy you. So answer me, Roll! Are you in there!? Is the same, cute girl that always puffs her cheeks in there, somewhere!?" Treble began to charge tremendous energy, accompanied with the faint, growling noise. Soon, the purple of Bass's Evil Energy was added to the onslaught as he shouted, "ANSWER ME!"

"B-Bass," Roll stuttered, gaining Weil's bewildered, "That's impossible! I should have just deleted all of your programming!" As Roll's body rejected the Dark Elf, Bass smirked, saying, "You evil genius types never think this far ahead, do you? Always underestimating the weaker ones in the group, just because they don't fight! Well you know what that gets you!? Howling Gospel, FIRE!"

Treble howled as he unleashed a torrent of energy that enveloped the Dark Elf and the close by Weil. The beam streaked out of the building and into the heavens before dissipating. Gaining the command that his combat functions were locked again, Bass fought the urge to collapse as Treble defused with him. Instead, he rushed to Roll, losing her own balance, and caught her.

"You're so much trouble, did you know that?" Bass asked as he smiled down on her. "B-Bass? You…came for me?" "Of course I did, kidnapping's so lame, anyways." He tried to smirk, but all the damage he'd incurred coupled with his most powerful attack sent ripples of pain through his body. "You're hurt!" she said, stating the obvious. "No problem, seeing as how everything's over now."

Fate was dealing out a hand to everyone. As he said those words, the floor beneath them crumbled and they went tumbling down, only saved by Treble's jet mode. As they landed, they realized the entire building was coming down. "Everyone outside!" the now spotted Zero shouted. Seeing X with him, Bass scooped Roll up and rushed outside with Treble at his heels.

"Trying to kill us!?" Bass snarled. "Sorry," X said as he helped Roll and Bass to their feet. "We had some trouble to deal with." "_DID _you deal with it?" Bass inquired. "I certainly hope so," Zero said as he gripped his shoulder in pain. "I don't think I could handle a second round of that."

A claw burst free from the rubble of the still collapsing building and the fused form of Omega and Elpizo worked itself free. "Destroy, destroy, destroy!" It repeated as it threw a ball of energy at the group. The explosion sent them all flying and they stayed down, so drained from constant fighting. "This looks bad," Zero calmly said.

"I keep telling you people that I'm a hero, I guess I'll prove it!"

They whirled to see a barely functioning Copy X making his way to the fusion. "You all inherit my world, now," Copy X said as he latched onto the fusion. "What are you doing!?" X asked as Copy X burst into blue light. Copy X looked to the original and gave a gentle smile. "It doesn't matter which one of us is the real one, as long as we fight for the same thing."

Copy X self-destructed in an explosion that consumed the fusion of Elpizo and Omega. Even the Baby Elves were heard screaming in the blast, and soon, nothing remained. "What do ya know," Bass said, "He did something useful."

Cries from around the city died down as Bass fell over, laughing. "The Dark Elf is toast, Weil's gone, Baby Elves vaporized, and the reploids apparently aren't going nuts anymore, life is good," Bass said. "You said it," Roll replied as she gently laid next to him. Slowly, their lips pressed and the rest of the group laughed, but quickly stopped as Bass's eyes flared open during the kiss.

Arriving on the scene, Protoman limped to the group and said, "Boy, you guys brought the house dow-is Bass kissing my sister?" The group laughed again, this time, to something Bass accepted and focused his attention on other things.

----------

A few weeks had passed since everything had come to a head. The true X assumed his role as leader of Neo Arcadia with all four of his guardians accepting the explanation of him and Copy X and humbly accepting employ under his regime.

Axl decided to join as the fifth of X's guardians and was welcomed among the others.

Zero finally took a much-needed break, spending what buzzed around the Resistance Base as 'quality time' with Ciel.

In their absence, Protoman took command of the Resistance Base, effectively renaming it the fitting ' Ciel City'.

Bass and Roll began a relationship that most speculated was only possible due to their conflicting personalities.

Still, despite the happy ending, something seemed off.

"Confirmed reaction inside Wily Castle ruins," the operator said to a now sighing Protoman. "Get everyone together," he ordered.

----------

They were all standing outside the ruins of Wily Castle: Bass, Protoman, Zero, X, Axl, Harpuia, Fefnir, Phantom, and Leviathan.

"And I'm back where I started," Bass drawled as they entered the building. It wasn't like before, now, everything was active and they were easily led by Bass to the heart of the building where, in a spotlight, sat Weil.

"No way!" Bass barked as he rushed to Weil and lifted him off his feet. "There's no way you lived through that blast!" "Well," X said, "Machine Cells are incredibly advanced, even today, he might have pulled through."

To their surprise, Weil's body slumped in Bass's grip and soon spilled to dust. "What's going on!?" Axl shouted, shocked.

"Let me answer that."

The entire group turned to a new figure. His hair was like Thurisuz and Uruz, one half black, the other teal. He smirked as he said, "I was wondering how long it would take you to find me." "Who the heck are you?" Bass asked as he raised his buster.

"Forgot me already, I'm hurt, Bass. It's me, Weil. This body was going to go to my third Bio Reploid, Anthuz, but you and your friends forced me to change everything. It wasn't too hard to put my mind in here. After all, it was so similar to what I did for Omega. So, now you're here and intent on killing me, once and for all, eh?"

"Sounds about right," Bass said, "After all, I hate to leave a job half-done." "You think it'll be that easy," Weil asked, "After all, I've have time to learn. I have data on you and Zero, not to mention my earlier Bio-Reploids. I even have the Ciel System, providing my body with unlimited power. But you aren't convinced, are you? No. It'll take a demonstration, I see. Very well. May Granzon be the last thing you lay eyes on in this realm."

They shielded their eyes as Weil's body erupted into sheer energy. From it, two large, dark blue, well armored arms sprouted, followed by legs. Soon, the entire dark-blue form was revealed, the singular paint-scheme taking away from the sheer imposing nature of the body, in essence, a demon.

"It doesn't matter what form you take!" Bass shouted, "I'll take you down!" The others in agreement, they all charged Weil in his new form as he merely opened his hand and said, "Bow." A wave of intense gravity hit them all and pressed them into the ground before X and Bass fired charged shots at him. While the Granzon armor certainly didn't look harmed, Weil stopped the attack.

Now, he opened his palm, letting loose a stream of energy. As they dodged, Protoman shouted, "Split up, he can't get all of us if we keep away from each other!" "Oh, really?" Weil asked, amused as his armored chest opened up. A literal hole formed in front of him as he released a massive burst of energy into said hole before nothing.

Paranoia was getting to the group as nothing happened. Suddenly, holes opened in front of all of them and a beam nearly destroyed each of them. "Fools!" Weil shouted as they steadied themselves, "My Granzon is perfect! Imagine the power to target hundreds of enemies an annihilate them at once! You're only prolonging your own suffering with all your resistance!"

He repeated his attack, shooting into a hole and they waited, ready, expecting an attack from any direction. Leviathan spied the hole to her side and dodged, but couldn't have predicted the other six. She didn't even have the chance to scream as she was enveloped and soon, only her silent body was revealing, smoking from burns over her unconscious body.

"LEVIATHA-AUGH!" Fefnir shouted as he fell prey to the same move. "Worry about yourself, fool!" Weil said with a laugh as Fefnir collapsed. In a blink of an eye, X summoned the Ultimate Armor and charged Weil with his Nova Strike, but the ever-confident Weil snapped his fingers as he once again displayed his control of gravity and smashed X into the ground.

Phantom and Harpuia rounded Weil and tackled him. "That's more like it," Bass shouted as he charged, but Harpuia and Phantom were easily swatted aside. "You, who made this possible, Bass! Let me thank you!" Weil's chest opened again, charging a ball of energy before flinging it to Bass. The massive ball of swirling, black energy seemed to track Bass, even slowly pulling him in, before Phantom intercepted and took the blast.

"Get out of here!" Harpuia shouted to the remainder. "I'll hold Weil off as long as I can." "We can't abandon you!" X shouted as Bass snarled, "There's no way I'd leave and let someone like Weil win!"

"Weil's GOING to win if you don't back off and come up with a plan! Please, as a guardian of Master X, it's my duty to do this." Silence reigned, Weil enjoying the soap opera as Zero nodded. "X, Axl, Bass, Protoman, let's get out of here." "Right," X solemnly said. "You guys sure?" Axl asked, and they nodded.

"Forget the whole lot of you!" Bass shouted, fuming. He might have admitted feelings for Roll, but that didn't mean he didn't care about the more-than-likely dead Leviathan on the ground. In his anger, the evil energy in his system took over, cascading him in purple light as the ground began to shake.

"We don't have time for this," Zero said as he slammed his fist into Bass's chest, the force _just _enough to knock him off-line. "GO!" Harpuia shouted as he nimbly dodged fire from Weil. "This isn't over," Protoman told Weil as X tapped his buster. In a flash, they were grabbed by a trans-server.

"Oh no," Weil said with glee, "this is far from over."

----------

"Why the hell'd you run away!?" a frantic, now conscious Bass yelled to the group. "Weil was too powerful to beat in some frontal assault," Zero explained, "We needed to regroup." "HAH!" Bass said as he grumpily crossed his arms.

"Bass, there was nothing we could have done," X said, as calm as possible as he laid a hand on Bass's shoulder. "Save the sympathy talk for someone it'll work on," Bass said as he swatted X's hand away. "Look, I didn't like it either," Protoman began, "But we were talking about a lot of power, what could we have done?"

"If I'd have brought Treble with me…" Bass trailed off, but Ciel spoke up. "I don't know how much of a difference it would have made. If Weil's running on my Ciel System, then he's got a power source unlike any other. The Dark Elf doesn't compare. I…had to make a system that would work. One that would provide enough clean energy for everyone…so it's essentially a miniature black hole."

"That sounds way too dangerous," Axl replied. "Well, a black hole is remarkably stable," Ciel said, "For as much power as it would produce, odds are, it would never go critical. So, until I can find an effective canceller, we're stuck waiting for Weil to make his move."

"I don't freaking believe this," Bass snarled. "I INVADE A CITY AND GO THROUGH AN ARMY, DESTROY THE DARK ELF, AND GET BEATEN BY SOME OLD COOT THAT SHOVES HIS BRAIN IN A ROBOT BODY!? THEN WE _RUN _FROM HIM BECAUSE WE THINK WE'RE TOO WEAK!?"

Roll put a hand on Bass, but he turned and walked away. "The guardians are probably dead because we screwed up. Ya know, I learned something when I did invade Neo Arcadia." "What's that?" X softly asked.

"I work better alone. I'm out of here."

"He needs the air, we should let him go, things will be easier when he gets back," X said, but Zero replied, "You missed his meaning. He's not coming back." "What?" The group gasped as Treble snapped his fingers, summoning his canine companion.

"Bass, wait!" Roll ran to him, "I won't let you leave, not without me." "No, you stay here," Bass said, "Who knows where I'm ending up." "That's why I'm coming with you. Someone has to take care of 'The Most Powerful Robot Master' and that someone's me."

It had been a taxing day, one that none of them would forget, but as Bass and Roll left for the unknown, they knew one thing was for sure; the adventure was just beginning.

----------

Ending Notes: …28…pages…fingers burn. Meh, I wrote half of this at work and the other half during sleep deprived nights. I hope you enjoyed it. Look out for Part Two…once I figure out what I'm going to call it. Expect some wild things in that.

Machine cells are a piece of Super Robot Taisen...incredibly annoying. They allowed certain enemy mechs to repair themselves, thus making one-on-one boss battles impossible. It would take the entire group to defeat some enemies, no matter how high your attack or evasion. I just threw that in, since Weil's supposedly got an armored body that regenerates damage.

Oh…as far as Granzon went…I totally toned it _DOWN_. We're talking about a mech so advanced that it took 2/3rds of a military budget to produce, capable of engaging 65,000 targets simultaneously and absorb everything through an energy field. We're lucky that it was JUST the guardians that Weil wasted. Honestly, I had this ending planned from the start.

Now that this chapter is done, I'm going to party with a hard drink of gi…er…No sis, if you're reading this, I don't drink, I meant party with…teddy bears…yeah.

Seriously though, I appreciate each and every one of you that read this story and I'll have part two up soon enough…after I dabble in some other things. Most importantly, I have a podcast script to write for the library I work at and I _JUST _got my hands on Super Robot Taisen R…which consequently is entirely in Japanese, so…this will be time-consuming.

Thanks for reading!

"Fight, Bass, for ever-lasting peace!"

"…Wrong Robot Master, doc."


End file.
